From the Middle Age Geneva was under the control of the Bishop of the Holy Roman Empire, providing the image of the Eagle and Key (the Key representing the Bishop) on the Genevan Coat of Arms.
But as Protestantism spread across the land after the showing of the Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther in Wittenburg, Switzerland quickly became a solely Protestant ground and the Roman Bishopship left after Bern (the Swiss Capital) had admitted their support for the new teachings and declared themselves a republic. Switzerland being the first of its kind, Protestants persecuted quickly fled en masse to the country and thus Geneva and the rest of Switzerland became a large territory for refugees. Actually, the overpopulation due to the refugee movement is why the Old City (which was all of Geneva at that point) has the tall, thin, and compactly-built architecture that it so memorable of it.
But quickly into the Reformation, after the excommunication of Martin Luther, a Genevan-born citizen named John Calvin came to rise and quickly became their spiritual leader until his death in 1564 (save for a three year exile). During his time he had turned Geneva into somewhat of a capital of the Reformation and produced such things as the Genevan Psalter, the first major use of Psalms in hymns and the first time they were used by the entire congregation and not just the select choir group, and the idea of Calvinism which while not fully accepted in Geneva by the officials became one of the larger movements in northern Europe.
The city of Geneva remained solely Protestant for 250 years until the time of St. Francis de Sales but still holds closely their history as in 1909, on the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, the Reformation Wall was released. Down its wall many statues and reliefs of important events, people, and times during the protestant reformation.
