Reformation Wall - Paul Landowski — Attraction in Geneva

Walk down the ramp and turn right, google maps doesn't show the correct location (oct. 2024) amazing sculpture. See the story behind them below sourced W I KI P E DI A.

The Wall is in the grounds of the University of Geneva, which was founded by John Calvin, and was built to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Calvin's birth and the 350th anniversary of the university's establishment. It is built into the old city walls, and the monument's location there is designed to represent the integral importance of the fortifications, and therefore of the city of Geneva, to the Reformation.

The monument was the culmination of a contest launched to transform that part of the park. The contest involved 71 proposals from around the world, and was won by four Swiss architects: Charles Dubois, Alphonse Laverrière, Eugène Monod, and Jean Taillens (whose other design came third).2] The sculptures were then created by two French sculptors: Paul Landowski and Henri Bouchard.[3

During the Reformation, Geneva was the centre of Calvinism, and its history and heritage since the sixteenth century has been closely linked to that of Protestantism. Due to the close connections to that theology, the individuals most prominently depicted on the Wall were Calvinists; nonetheless, key figures in other theologies are also included.

At the centre of the monument, four 5 metre-tall statues of Calvinism's main proponents are depicted:

William Farel (1489–1565) John Calvin (1509–1564) Theodore Beza (1519–1605) John Knox...

Far too grand a wall for commemorating bureaucrats of the church reform. The style somewhat reminds of similar type of monuments erected in the former Soviet Union to celebrate Vladimir Lenin for his revolutionary ingenuity for 'liberating' the lower classes. While Lenin at least appealed to masses promising them paradise on earth, John Calvin was a man of letter in its most literal sense. His appearance in Geneva was incidental and his return after his unsuccessful attempt to bring 'discipline' to the undisciplined and freedom loving city was somewhat forced, although he himself wanted to believe it was fated. Calvin was a well-educated man with talent for writing - the exact skills that Geneva, already a reformed city, needed in order to establish a new Church and with it more restricting rules over unruly citizens, thus the appeal to Calvin. He was a true bureaucrat more concerned with his doctrine than human and humane side of life. Although he did his job well in the bureaucratic sense of it, to my mind, he was not that a great figure to deserve to be part of such a monument in Geneva. He was a weak man without passion or leadership skills or understanding of human nature, yet he toyed with an idea of serving God and being of service to others. The Reformation Wall appears to commemorate an enslavement of Geneva by bureaucrats rather than any deep or thoughtful reformation deeds which would have had more positive effect for the...

Leaning against the ancient walls of the City, the Wall of Reformers - or International Monument of the Reformation - is composed of a stone rampart engraved and decorated with bas-reliefs, in front of which are erected the statues of statesmen, pioneers or Protectors of the Reformation.

The central group represents the four great preachers: William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox, all four dressed in the "Geneva dress" and holding the little Bible of the people in their hands.

The Wall of the Reformation was inaugurated in 1917 to mark the 400 th anniversary of Calvin's birth and the 350 th anniversary of the establishment of the Academy by Calvin; It measures a hundred meters long; The four large figures in the middle have a height of 5 meters ; In total, 10 statues make up the Monument; 2 parallelepipeds engraved with the names of Luther and Zwingli pay homage to the two other great reformers, in Europe and in Switzerland...