Reformation International Monument
The International Monument to the Reformation, usually known as the Reformation Wall, is located in Geneva ( Switzerland ). Raised in the current Bastions Park and along a few hundred meters, it is backed by some of the ancient walls built in the sixteenth century and around the city until the mid- nineteenth century. The monument was inaugurated in 1909 for the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin and the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Academy of Geneva became today the University of Geneva.
The monument consists of a stone wall engraved and decorated with bas-reliefs , which are erected before the statues of pioneers or protectors of the Protestant Reformation. The assembly is protected by a water ditch reminiscent of the old fortifications.
Summary |
Personalities represented
At the center of the wall, five meters high, the statues are met by four figures of the Protestant reform movement: Guillaume Farel ( one thousand four hundred eighty-nine - in 1565 ), one of the instigators of the Reformation in Geneva, John Calvin ( 1509 - one thousand five hundred and sixty-four ), the central character of the movement, Theodore Beza ( 1 513 - 1605 ), rector of the Academy of Geneva and John Knox (1513 - 1572 ), founder of the cult Presbyterian in Scotland , all four wearing the dress of Geneva and holding Little People's Christian Bible in his hand.
In the wall is engraved with the motto of Geneva: Post Tenebras Lux (After darkness, light).
On both sides of the central figures are the statues and bas-reliefs representing the major Protestant figures of different countries Calvinists and crucial in the development of the movement:
- To the left of the central group are the Admiral de Coligny to France, William I the Silent to the Netherlands and Frederick William of Brandenburg , protector of refugee Huguenots , for Germany.
- To the right of the central group are Roger Williams for New England , Oliver Cromwell for Britain and Istvn Bocskay for Hungary.
- Respective ends of the plaza facing the monument, two steles recall the memory of Martin Luther , the instigator of Protestantism, and Ulrich Zwingli , one of the men who have converted it to Switzerland.
History
It was after a bitter debate about where it was appropriate to raise the monument that is launched in 1908 an international competition for placement in the Promenade des Bastions, which houses a botanical garden since 1817. The contest aroused widespread interest and the projects made use a broad variety of solutions.
The project, awarded after a competition among 71 other proposals, is the work of four Swiss architects (including Laverrire Alphonse and Jean Taillens ). The statues are made by two sculptors French : Paul Landowski and Henri Bouchard.
On 3 November 2002 , during the Feast of the Reformation , is engraved in the stone wall the names of three other precursors of the Reformation: Peter Waldo , John Wycliffe , John Huss and that of the first woman to be included, under the theologian and historian of the Reformation, Mary Dentire , a native of Tournai.
Bibliography
- Paul Landowski stone for eternity. The book was published in 2004 on the occasion of the exhibition "Paul Landowski Stone of Eternity" presented at the Museum of the Great War in Peronne in the Somme.
- Bouchard, the sculptor / Francois Bouchard, Bouchard Marie Antoinette Lenormand-Romain. - Paris: Muse Bouchard, 1995. - 120 p. See also
External link
- "Reformation Wall" on the official website of the City of Geneva
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