St. Peter's is the large Gothic style cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Cathedral was built in the 1500, just before the Protestant reformation, when Calvin commandeered it and made it into a Calvinistic church.

 A church has been on this site since the fourth century when a Baptistery was built on this site in order to have a place to baptize the pagans. Over time the site has been built up (the foundations for the original Baptistery are under the court yard in front of the cathedral) and remodeled over time. In fact, at one time there were two churches on this site. Construction of the current Gothic style cathedral started in the 13th century and was finished by the 15th. As I said, Calvin "converted" it into a Calvinistic cathedral during the Protestant reformation and it has remained a Calvinistic church since. Part of Calvin's doctrine is to have very bare churches (A young woman mentioned to me how she noticed that all the Swiss churches were bare and dull). This cathedral is no exception. The focal point is the pulpit where teaching took place. There are no other distractions (i.e. art work).

    It is quite interesting to climb the two (quite different) towers of the church and see a beautiful view of Geneva. The "crypt" has been "expanded" to show the progression of churches built up on this site Here are some photos of the Cathedral.

I hope you enjoy the photos. Any comments, please E-mail me, .