Geneva - Whimsy at the Bottom-Proppers, St. Peter's Cathedral Choir Stalls. Real folks.

You are now in St. Peter's Cathedral in the Old City in Geneva.  Barren, clearly stripped down (in 1539 or so)  from its fancy Roman Catholic origins.  There are lots of places that just look vacant, where did the inhabitant of this niche go? But that is what the Reformers did.  No more distractions allowed. Do away with the corruption, see ://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/reformation-switzerland-calvin.html This is religion and we are serious. 

Still, slip up to the choir stalls; see the places set for the elite to meet, and find these. Splendid wood carvings. There are elegant canopy forms, and two rows of places for people.

St. Peter's Cathedral, Choir Stalls, Geneva CH

Now, look a little closer:  These are ecclesiastical bottom-proppers; bum-proppers to the unschooled, like us.  You can sort of stand-sit at your place.  You look like you are standing and get the credit for it, while you are really well supported where you need it during long, long services.  They are highly imaginative, the wood carver's art at its best.  And showing real people, not just the saintly conventional ones.

This is what they look like, captions ours and not theirs:

Unwilling worshiper, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

Domestic spat, choir stall seating, with a joker in the middle, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva, Switzerland

There is a hinge at the bottom sides, no pun intended, so the entire seat can be folded down straight, and made into a seat proper, not a propper.  Look at the shelf support built in.

Floral and supplicant rodent, Choir Stalls, seats, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

Sacrificial ram, eyed suspiciously, Choir stall seating, stern person in the middle, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva, CH

Ecclesiastical carved bum-props. Excellent.  Ordinary people in carvings.  More excellence.  There was a period where the great artisans no longer remained anonymous.  See this ring of everyday faces in Croatia, the St. James Cathedral at Sibenik:

Exterior real people's faces, Sibenik Cathedral, Croatia

Geneva - Founts of Water and Theology. Tall and Wet , to Deep and Dry

From the Tall and Wet to the Deep and Dry.

Geneva Offers Both, but Humorlessly.

I. Fountain Jet at Geneva

Tall and Wet

Le Jet d'Eau - Water Fountain, Geneva, Swizerland

This is the tallest fountain in the world. Hoo, thought we, but we did enjoy a fast and legal parking spot (still, watch for the meter demon, and take no chances) and a stroll by the water at Lake Geneva. Get a fine overview of Geneva at ://www.geneva.info/ The fountain is a drive-by attraction, broadly visible, and no real need to get out. So we aimed for the Old City, and found an unexpected hassle to find a parking lot there.

Why is the Old City not better marked for tourist cars already in the downtown, and going in ovals and circles and trapezoidinal helixes with the one way boulevards and other turns, and yearning to breathe free by finding the right access street to find the history. And once in some big underground garage, there is a goodly walk, and it is hard to keep bearings. Not car-friendly, and the Old City is elusive. Hard to hone.

II. Theology at Geneva

Deep and Dry

Oh my.

Reformation Wall, The Four Reformers, Bastion Park, Geneva CH

Geneva,  like many modern places, has an odd, disembodied relationship with its religious past.  Here are the Great Reformers, in an outdoor park, Le Parc Bastion, and the geneva.info site does not even name them.  We will.  May we introduce, here at the Reformation Wall, ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/geneva-reformation-wall.  The task was re-forming Christianity from the elaborately constructed Roman Catholicism it had become, to another, less dogmatic, less riches-focused, etc. form, while demanding deep sacrifice in fluff. Is that so? What happened then?

Guillaime (William) Farel, First Preacher

John Calvin, Leader of the Reformation Movement, see ://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/CALVIN.HTM

Theodore Beza, who succeeded Calvin

John Knox, friend to Calvin, and the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland

This is very austere stuff.  Here is an advance look at St. Peter's Cathedral, once Roman Catholic, then purged of most of the fancy, and Protestant. From one extreme to another. Both, and a mid-ground, unstable against those who foist.

St. Peter's Cathedral, John Calvin's Chair

Sit. Up. Straight. Don't make me tell you again. Hiss.