Divided Geneva marks 500 years of Calvinist rigour

Geneva, once nicknamed the "Protestant Rome", is marking this month the 500th anniversary of John Calvin, an influential figure in the historic schism of Christianity who left his mark on this city.

But local authorities have struggled to find the best way to celebrate the birth of the controversial French theologian and leader in the Protestant Reformation.

He is being celebrated because he turned a "provincial town into a European intellectual capital that became renowned through the centuries", according to the organisers of Geneva's "Year of Calvin".