Old Town

I was waiting for a not-so-hot day to take a walking tour of the city, but that day never came... so on one of the last mornings we were there, I went to the Geneva Tourism office and signed up. I had thought I'd take a self-guided audio tour, but realized that following a map from place to place and listening to someone (probably) speak in broken English wasn't what I wanted. So I joined a small tour group and set out to the Old Town section of the city.

It was a bit strange to be hearing all these facts after I'd been there for days-- usually I like to do these tours first. But because I was already familiar with most of the areas, it was like learning the back-story after already knowing the present.

Back in the day, silly taxes were abundant! Tea tax, window tax, curtain tax... in Geneva, they had a door tax. So, depending on how many doors you had to your home, you were made to pay. Also, the size of the door mattered. The picture up top illustrated how one homeowner got around the law by building the door below street-level, thus only incurring fees for the part of the door from the stoop on up. Smart guy.

The building below housed the museum of the Reformation, I think... it was the one place that I didn't go to that I wanted to visit. I took this picture because I thought it was very funny that the building had these white lines painted on it. Turns out that in the past the building had always been colored and covered in soot. When remodeled, they wanted to keep up that appearance. But they decided that it looked too strange all one color... so they added in fake lines!

The Old Town section of Geneva has been inhabited since the 12th century. With the lake and two rivers, there was ample natural resources and room for trade. It was interesting to learn that because of constant invasions, the people eventually built a wall around the entire town of Geneva. This was all well and good until the Reformation (16th century), when Calvin's teachings brought in waves of immigrants to the city. Not all were accepted-- only the skilled ones-- but those that were needed housing. Therefore, the city built up. My tour guide pointed out many buildings that still displayed evidence of having a third and fourth story added on.
The building above was at the back of a courtyard, which was closed off from the main street by a large door, much like the ones we saw in Milan. Visitors that arrived by carriage had room to turn around on the cobblestones in front and residents were given some sort of privacy.

Staircases, such as the one below, were always built on the outside of the homes. For one to get from the kitchen (first floor) to the bedrooms (second floor), you'd have to leave the house, walk up a flight, and re-enter. Many of these external staircases were only recently discovered when these buildings were remodeled. Thankfully, the Swiss care for their historical gems by restoring them!

I'll let the guide book explain this one...
"Geneva’s Cathédrale St-Pierre is a rather odd building, a mishmash of architectural elements that doesn’t really inspire. Begun in 1160, the original building took some 72 years to complete and has had a multitude of bits and pieces stuck on over the centuries. "


"A small side-chapel, the Chapelle des Macchabées (above), was added in 1397. You shouldn’t leave without spending time in the delightful Maccabean Chapel, last on the left before you leave. Used as a warehouse and later as a lecture hall, it was rededicated as a place of worship in 1878 and is filled with lavish and beautiful decoration dating from then."

"As you enter, though, all confusion is stripped away and you’re left with the clean lines of dour, severely austere stonework. In 1535, spurred on by Bern, the people of Geneva accepted the Reformation and embarked on an iconoclastic rampage – all the altars in the cathedral, as well as every statue and icon, were destroyed, the organs were smashed and the painted decoration on the interior walls was whitewashed. Only the great pulpit and, by chance, the stained glass of the chancel, survived." "As you wander through the soaring interior, the architecture, and the austerity, draw your gaze upwards; almost the only decoration to survive is on the capitals of the nave’s clustered pillars, grotesque monsters and a bare-breasted double-tailed mermaid. "

All of this bears stark contrast to the smaller chapel around the corner, which is where John Calvin actually taught and lectured. With no stained glass windows on the wall to distract the learners (they were made to learn to read, rather than imagine about stories that were read to them), and no chairs for which to sit upon (the ones here were added later), you can clearly see why this was more of a home for Calvin than St. Pierre (above), where he conducted Sunday services.