St. Pierre Cathedral

St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, was built as a Roman Catholic cathedral, but became a Reformed Protestant Church of Geneva church during the Reformation. It is known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin.

St. Pierre Cathedral of Geneva
The Cathedral Church of St Peter
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Genève
St. Pierre Cathedral
St. Pierre Cathedral of Geneva Location of St. Pierre Cathedral in Switzerland
46°12′4″N 6°8′55″E
Location	Geneva
Country	Switzerland
Denomination	Protestant Church of Geneva
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
Tradition	Calvinist
Website	St. Pierre Cathedral
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	4th century
Dedication	Peter the Apostle
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
Style	Gothic

The nave of St. Pierre Cathedral

History

Although this has been the site of a cathedral (a church that is the seat of a bishop) since the fourth century, the present building was begun under Arducius de Faucigny, the prince-bishop of the Diocese of Geneva, around 1160, in Gothic style. The interior of the large, cruciform, late-gothic church was stripped of its rood screen, side chapels, and all decorative works of art, leaving a vast, white-washed interior that contrasts sharply with the interior of surviving medieval churches in countries that continued to be part of the Roman Catholic Church. A Neo-Classical main facade was added in the 18th century. In the 1890s, Genevans redecorated a large, side chapel adjacent to the cathedral's man doors in polychrome, gothic revival style. The German painter Konrad Witz painted an altarpiece, the so-called St. Peter Altarpiece, for the cathedral in 1444, now in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, which contains his composition, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes.

Currently, every summer a German Protestant minister is present, making it possible to hold bilingual services and meetings of both German and French Protestant worshippers.

On Whit Saturday, 30 May 2020, after nearly 485 years[1] a Catholic mass was to be celebrated in the cathedral as a symbol of ecumenical hospitality the first time again.[2] Because of COVID-19, the celebration was first postponed from 29 February 2020 to 30 May 2020, but could again not be celebrated because of the pandemic. The celebration was postponed to 2021.[3]

Bells

Chapelle of St. Pierre Cathedral

No.	Name	Year	Caster, Gussort	Durchmesser (mm)	Mass (kg)	Strike tone	Tower
1	La Clémence	1902	H. Rüetschi, Aarau	2190	6238	g^0	North
2	L'Accord	1845	S. Treboux, Vevey	1560	2080	c^1	South
3	La Bellerive	1473	Nicolas Guerci	1400	1500	e^1	North
4	La Collavine	1609		1140	1012	g^1	South
5	L'Espérance	2002	H. Rüetschi, Aarau	930	475	a^1	South
6	L'Eveil	1845	S. Treboux, Vevey	750	261	c^2	South
7	Le Rappel	15th century		590	133	e^2	South
I	La Cloche des Heures	1460		1290	1610	e^1	Spire
II	Le Tocsin	1509		760	270	cis^2	South

Gallery

• 
  Spire of St. Pierre Cathedral
• 
  Front entrance of the Cathedral at night
• 
  John Calvin's chair
• 
  Jet d'Eau from the north tower of the Cathedral
• 
  Ceiling of the Maccabees Chapel

Further reading

• Bonnet, Charles (February 1987), "The Archaeological Site of the Cathedral of Saint Peter (Saint-Pierre), Geneva", World Archaeology, Taylor & Francies, Ltd, 18 (3): 330–340, doi:10.1080/00438243.1987.9980010, JSTOR 124589

References

1. After the temporary suspension of the Mass by a city council decision on August 10, 1535, no Catholic Mass had taken place. (Publication de l'association pour la restauration de Saint-Pierre, Saint-Pierre Ancienne Cathédrale de Genève, Geneva, 1982, p. 67)
2. Catholic Mass in Cathedral of the Reformed (in German), Deutschlandfunk, 31 May 2020.
3. Still waiting for a historical event (German), Domradio, 2 June 2020

External links

• Official St Pierre Cathedral website—(in French)
• Izi.travel: Cathedral visitor's guide—(in English)
• Tibet.ca: "The Dalai Lama visits to the Cathedral" (1999)—(in English)

Images

• Gotik-romanik.de: photos of Cathedral
• Rawle.org: Aerial view of entire Cathedral
• UCLA.edu: Cathedral's stained glass windows
• Musiqueorguequebec.ca: Cathedral organ