Council of Europe gives prize to Geneva's Reformation Museum

The Council of Europe awarded its Europe Museum Prize for 2007 to Geneva's International Museum of the Reformation, which is housed on the spot where the city's citizens voted to adopt the Protestant Reformation in 1536. The president of the Council's parliamentary assembly, Rene van der Linden, presented museum director Isabelle Graesslé with a bronze statuette by Catalan artist Joan Miro, a diploma and a check for 5,000 euros at a ceremony in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

The award jury praised the museum's international outlook, its demonstration of religious tolerance, and its "especially daring" interactive display presenting theological ideas, Presbyterian News Service reported Thursday.

The museum, inaugurated in 2005, uses original books, manuscripts, paintings, and engravings to trace the history of Protestantism initiated in Geneva by Jean Calvin in the 16th century. It is planning a special exhibition in 2009 to mark the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, which is also celebrated by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a grouping of 216 churches with roots in Calvin's Reformation. The alliance brought together 50 representatives for an April 15-19 meeting in Geneva to plan the Calvin Jubilee.