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JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
The house where <strong>Calvin</strong> was born became part of the Hôtel de France, built in the XVII th century on<br />
the place aux Blés, (in fact, a small yard separated it from the “place”). This is what we can infer from<br />
drawings, engravings <strong>and</strong> photographs taken before 1918. During the wars of religion <strong>and</strong> succeeding<br />
invasions the house remained intact – in February 1553, <strong>Calvin</strong> wrote in a letter “My father’s house is<br />
the only one still st<strong>and</strong>ing : it is not reduced to rubble like the other houses of this town.”<br />
<strong>Calvin</strong>'s house was destroyed in the First World War <strong>and</strong> then<br />
rebuilt<br />
The Germans took possession of Noyon in 1914 – soon after this a memorial plaque was put up on<br />
the house which stated that it was the historic birthplace of the reformer. In the last year of the war it<br />
was completely destroyed, as were all the other houses in the town. The imposing city residences<br />
which used to hide it from view were never rebuilt.<br />
The Société de l’histoire du protestantisme français (SHPF), bought the ruins of the house <strong>and</strong> thanks<br />
to an international fund which was raised to finance the project, the lower part of the building (as it was<br />
before 1917), was completely restored. This was largely due to the efforts of two friends, Monseigneur<br />
Lagneau, archpriest of the cathedral <strong>and</strong> pastor Pannier, general secretary of the SHPF. The top part<br />
of the building was added later in order to transform it into a museum. It was inaugurated in 1930,<br />
damaged by bombing in 1944, restored in 1954 <strong>and</strong>, thanks to the perseverance of pastor Georges<br />
Casalis, modernized in 1983 to become the building we see today.<br />
There is a large library <strong>and</strong> many pictures in the museum<br />
Bourges, <strong>Calvin</strong>'s pulpit © V.M.F.<br />
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