Reformation Museum: Jeans are a specifically Protestant garment

Buildings rise high on either side of Rue des Barrières. This narrow alleyway must be wonderfully cool in summer, but it is chilly in spring. Perhaps Calvin once walked here at the time when Geneva was the centre of the Reformation. In the city, however, little recalls this influential man of history. The reformer seems to have been forgotten.

The alley opens onto Rue de l'Evêché and then onto Cour de Saint-Pierre. The houses here give way to a spacious square. On benches, people eat their lunch. Some tourists walk up the steps of Saint-Pierre Cathedral. To the left of the church is the "Musée International de la Réforme".

You could visit the museum only through a virtual tour for almost two years. The building closed on 2 August 2021 for a significant renovation. Twenty-one months later, the museum has more space, the number of collections has increased, and the main entrance has been repositioned.

Luther's theses

Geneva may be the city of Calvin, but the Reformation Museum also gives attention to men like Luther, Zwingli, Melanchthon and Beza.

German museum exhibit explores historical myths behind Christmas

06-12-2022

The museum consists of ten different rooms. Each one highlights an other aspect of the Reformation. A sign explains how the Reformation came about. Where the church was mainly after money, the reformers returned to the Scriptures.

Behind the glass hangs a Latin copy of the 95 Theses Luther nailed to Wittenberg's castle chapel in 1517. A sign explains how the Reformation affected daily life. Pastors replaced priests. Of the seven sacraments, five disappeared. A baptismal gown from the 19th century catches the eye. Also on display -as symbols of Reformed worship- are a wooden communion cup, a Bible, a sermon book and an hourglass. The latter object was used during the Reformation era to limit the preacher's speaking time. The authorities feared that political views would also be proclaimed in a long sermon.

Red, the colour of blood

The smell of paint still hangs in the newly renovated building. The floors creak. An elderly lady shuffles through the space. It is not crowded on the first day of the reopening. A man, about 60, shoots photographs.

In the second room, it is immediately noticeable that everything is red. That intense colour refers to the blood that flowed during the persecution of the French Calvinists - the Huguenots. A painting shows something of the terrible events of Bartholomew's Night. On the night of 23-24 August 1572, Roman Catholics massacred Huguenots in Paris. About 20,000 Protestants died. The French war between Roman Catholics and Protestants (1562-1598) eventually cost the lives of thousands of people on both the Roman Catholic and Protestant sides. Display cases contain pamphlets, satires and poems written during this war. Some 700,000 Huguenots fled France, 70,000 of whom ended up in Holland and 20,000 in Switzerland.

Room 6 shows how the Reformation spread around the world. A slide projects a ship on the wall. It is the Mayflower, the vessel on which, in September 1620, the first European settlers travelled to America to make a life free of religious persecution. With their crossing, their beliefs also spread.

A familiar melody sounds from the next room. It is Psalm 42, composed by Claude Goudimel. Born around 1500, this Frenchman was one of the most influential composers of the 16th century. He made arrangements for the 150 Geneva Psalms. He was probably murdered during St Bartholomew's Day.

Jewish

The rooms at the bottom of the museum show the influence of the Reformation over the past two centuries. Sometimes it is challenging to find the link between the objects on display and the Reformation. One display case shows a computer, a pair of jeans and the steering wheel of a car. "You could say that jeans are a Protestant garment - even though their maker is Jewish. It conforms to the clothing values of Protestantism: simple in form and sober in colour," a sign explains.

In the next room, hang pictures of influential Protestant figures of the 20th century. Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, Friedrich Schleiermacher. Some names are more famous than others.

After two years, the Reformation Museum in Geneva reopens

28-04-2023

The last room shows actual images. A film clip of a boat overflowing with refugees, a climate demonstration, and the inauguration of Barack Obama. Here, too, it is sometimes hard to see the link with the Reformation.

Drawing

A temporary exhibition is running at the Reformation Museum: "Déflagrations" or "Explosions". One hundred and forty children's drawings hang on the wall. The young artists have committed their memories of the war to paper. Some of the drawings are almost a century old. In one of the illustrations, people meet their end in the gas chamber. The image next to it shows how a raid rages in a ghetto. A little further on hangs a drawing of a more recent date. This one was made during a summer camp in 2022 for children aged 6 to 12. The drawing shows the blue-and-yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag, but in addition, there is also a section painted red and black. What memories will this young artist have had when making this painting?

Read more about Reformation

The Reformation was a church renewal movement in the 16th century. The aim was to bring the church back to the authority of the Bible, as God's inspired word. The main leaders were Martin Luther and John Calvin.

Once back in the square in front of the Saint-Pierre, the old cathedral strikes twelve beats. Calvin brought the Word here. "Chaque fidèle doit y avoir accès dans sa propre langue," the Reformers believed. Every believer should have a Bible in his own language at his disposal. Those who walk out of the museum realise: we owe a lot to the Reformation.

This article was translated by CNE.news and published by the Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad on May 5, 2023