Church
Temple de Saint-Gervais
Gothic Reformed church rebuilt in the fourteen-thirties, its nave centered on a preacher's pulpit rather than an altar.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Temple de Saint-Gervais in Geneva opens with a simple question: why a plain wooden pulpit now stands where an altar once held candles, painted saints and relics. It traces Geneva's break from the Catholic mass in 1535 and the public oath its citizens swore the following spring, then follows John Calvin's arrival in 1536 and the 1547 renovation that gutted the interior for Reformed worship, painting over medieval frescoes still hidden under the plaster. Galleries went up along the north side so the whole room could see one thing: the preacher standing at its center.
This audio guide was created using AI.