“A History of the Reformation” redesigned in Geneva
Published: Sunday, Dec 24th 2023, 10:30
Back to Live Feed
The International Museum of the Reformation (MIR) in Geneva has redesigned its permanent exhibition "A History of the Reformation". The museum, which is just a few steps away from Geneva's St. Pierre Cathedral, reopened in spring after two years of renovation.
The scenographers from the Parisian studio Tovar have not been stingy with colors: a red room is set against a green one, in which carpets based on reproductions from the Protestant era have been specially designed for the occasion. The colors set themselves apart from the common perception of Protestantism as grey and austere, especially in the Calvinist city.
"We wanted to make this exhibition warm and inviting," Gabriel de Montmollin, Director of the MIR since 2017, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. An effort that has clearly paid off, as the museum has announced a 20 percent increase in visitor numbers since 2019.
Bringing together scattered works
The project at the MIR consists of bringing together the works scattered in museums and private collections in order to give the population and tourists the opportunity to understand the Reformation from a historical and cultural perspective: "With only the Reformation Wall, tourists did not understand the connection between Geneva - the Protestant Rome of Calvin's time - and Protestantism," explains de Montmollin.
One of the rooms features a painting by Ferdinand Hodler, on long-term loan from the Museum of Art and History, depicting Calvin and the professors in the courtyard of the Geneva Collège: "Calvin regarded Geneva as a rear base for the training of pastors, with the aim of persuading France to reform," explains the director of the MIR. Calvin also brought printers to Geneva, where there were 60 printing houses at the time.
Further back, visitors discover the head of a bishop, disfigured by Bernese iconoclasts, which was found in the attic of Bern Cathedral in the 1980s: "It's not a loan - which is not permitted for archaeological objects - but a reconstruction using a 3D printer," explains de Montmollin.
Two other paintings that attract attention are Calvin and Luther Going to Hell by Egbert II van Heemskerck (1634-1704). They were painted in London and are a response to anti-Catholic prints of the time.
Von Calvin bis Johnny Cash
However, the MIR's ambitions are not limited to the time of the Reformation. The exhibition aims to show the Reformed movement in all its diversity right up to the present day.
In a small room dedicated to music, you can recognize "Personal Jesus", the Depeche Mode hit covered by Johnny Cash. Moving colored glass windows give this room a psychedelic look. Visitors can discover many other elements with the help of an audio guide in ten languages and an animation of the works using an Ipad.
The MIR, which opened in 2005, is financed by private funds, ticket sales and the boutique and receives CHF 50,000 in public funding out of a total budget of CHF 1.4 million. According to de Montmollin, this financing model is reaching its limits.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic