The city that gave the world the Red Cross, the Geneva Conventions, and the United Nations European headquarters — where a 140-metre water fountain jets from Lake Geneva daily, John Calvin launched the most austere version of the Reformation, and luxury watchmakers line the Rue du Rhône
Geneva is Switzerland's second city (210,000, metro 600,000) at the southwestern tip of Lake Geneva on the Rhône, a uniquely international city that is home to 40+ international organisations including the UN European Headquarters (Palais des Nations), the ICRC (Red Cross), WHO, WTO, and CERN. The Jet d'Eau — a 500 l/s fountain shooting lake water 140m into the air — is visible from miles around and has operated since 1891. The Old Town (Vieille-Ville) contains St. Pierre's Cathedral (where Calvin preached 1536–1564), the Maison Tavel (Geneva's oldest house, c. 1334), and the Mur des Réformat…
Genava was a Celto-Roman settlement and the seat of a bishop from the 4th century CE. John Calvin arrived in 1536 at the invitation of William Farel and remained (with one exile) until his death in 1564, transforming Geneva into what Knox called 'the most perfect school of Christ since the Apostles' — a theocratic republic that expelled gambling, dancing, and taverns, produced the Geneva Bible (1560, the first widely available English Bible with verse divisions), and exported Calvinist theology to France, Scotland, the Netherlands, and eventually New England. The city fell to Napoleon in 1798…