English masses in Geneva are usually held at the English speaking church of John XXII and the Sunday evening mass at seven pm in Notre Dame Cathedral, is in English too. We visited these two church quite often during our stay in Geneva. This post shows the other churches we came across while exploring Geneva…
The St. Pierre Cathedral in old town, Geneva.
Once a catholic church, St. Pierre Cathedral is the main place of worship of Geneva’s protestants since the advent of the Reformation in 1536. St Peter’s Cathedral, built in the 12th century, underwent important transformations in the 16th century. The first walls were constructed around 1160 and work continued for almost a century. Interiors of the Cathedral were vastly demolished in 1535, when Geneva’s residents accepted the Reformation and destroyed all the altars inside the cathedral, all the statues and most of the paintings. (sourced from the internet)
The spire of the cathedral…
The side door…
Inside the cathedral, this is the Rohan Chapel, which contains the 19th-century tomb of Duc Henri de Rohan (1579-1638), leader of the French Protestants.
Inside the medieval church…
15th century choir stalls… I loved the detail on them.
The choir stalls…
This funny looking dragon guarding the stalls…
A face beneath one of the choir seats…
A dog with it’s bones carved beneath a choir seat…
A ram below another seat…
Intricate detailing overhead… and people carved into the choir stall.
The choir stall where the medieval people in the choir sat and sang songs…
The interiors…
This former catholic cathedral was ransacked by Calvin and his supporters and is now considered Geneva’s answer to Saint Peter’s in Rome, a protestant cathedral. Below the church is an archaeological site with the remains of a roman church (sourced from the internet).
Calvin’s chair…
St. Pierre Cathedral is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Seen here is the wooden chair used by Calvin.
Vine detailing on the pulpit…
See the banners engraved here, the lion and a stork probably…
The pulpit…
Chapel of the Holy Spirit…
Pretty interesting cross…
A slide show on one of the walls about the cathedral…
Some great thinkers of that age…
The magnificent chapel of Maccabees….
Check out the ceiling…
The colours on the arch…
A stained glass window…
The pulpit…
An insignia on the floor…
An angel on the pulpit…
The eagle (Aigle), a symbol of one of the medieval royal households that was in charge.
The winged lion, a symbol of another medieval royal household…
A winged horse…
Stunning ceiling… I couldn’t stop gazing up at it.
The angels painted on the ceiling…
Explanation about the Chapel of Maccabees…
The Maccabees chapel is quite beautiful, there are hardly any visitors around so you can stroll around in peace. I read that there are excellent views of Geneva once you climb the towers, but we didn’t do that, I wonder why…
The chapel of Saint Marie is one of the smallest and architecturally beautiful chapels, I’ve been to. Almost didn’t see it, until my brother told me about it… This picture is taken from here.
Inside this beautiful chapel…
See how sunlight comes in through that cross… this is quite a small chapel, accommodates about fifteen people.
What I really like about this chapel are the small gaps or openings that allow natural light to fall on the bible or the tabernacle. Attended a French mass here, and made a friend, Fr. Gabriel.
This is the church of Saint Pie X… picture taken from here.
This is the church of Saint Pie X… picture taken from here.
Inside the Saint Pie X church…
At Grand Lancy, came across the church of Notre Dame des Graces, and right opposite the church is one of the prettiest cemeteries….
The entrance to the cemetery…
An artsy type of candle holder…
The cemetery…
Many of them have cute stuff hung all over…
Like this pretty wreath with an elf sitting on it…
How beautiful is this angel…
A young guy… God bless his soul.
Stained glass angel…
This is the place where remains are kept in shelves and a flowering pot hangs from each shelf… this basin contains water to water the plants.
A very pretty lady… God bless her soul.
A calm and nice, final resting place…
Another pensive angel…
This is the Notre Dame of Graces church located right opposite the cemetery…
Inside the Notre Dame of Graces…
Stained glass widow…
I call this the island church.. it is surrounded by water on every side.
The Holy Trinity church… looks pretty cool, no…
Water gently flowing all around it, creating a beautiful trickling sound…
Inside the Holy Trinity Chapel…
An amazing wood carving of Madonna and child Jesus..
The holy water font…
The sacred heart church…
Inside the sacred heart church…
A small chapel inside the sacred heart church, depicting the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan, by John the baptist. See their well sculpted physiques, they look like they walked out of a magazine… not quite prayer inducing, if you ask me.
Another interesting sculpted piece inside this chapel… looks like Mother Mary.
Christ the King church…
Christ the King church…
Inside Christ the King Church…
The stations of the cross on the window panes… pretty nice idea.
There were paintings like this all over… I don’t know what they mean or signify.
Paintings along an entire stretch of wall…
Probably Mother Mary?
Jesus rising… ?
This is another protestant church…
The St. Martin church in Onex…
Inside the beautiful St. Martin church…
Candle lights…
It was fun roaming around checking out these different churches… we would pack a banana, some berries and flavoured yogurt and almost every where we went there would be benches or gardens to rest and take in all the sights and sounds of a beautiful city.
The Choir stalls…they remind me of some memories!!
protestant churches and the blessed virgin statues? wonder what martin Luther the original will make of it all…..
What beautiful buildings–the artwork and carvings found in them are just stunning. I loved seeing it all. Thank you for posting all of these amazing photographs!!!
Jenifer, hehe… they should have built something like that for us in church.
Ganesh, you just had to point it out… but it is kinda funny.
Ah Beth, glad you liked them….
I am always fascinated by the pulpit of these churches. Each one is unique.