Welcome to the virtual museum of Protestantism
History of the museum
Created in 2003 by the Fondation pasteur Eugène Bersier, with the assistance of the Historical Society of French Protestantism, the virtual museum of Protestantism has undergone two transformations:
- The integration in 2006 of English and German translations funded in part by grants from the Ministry of Culture and the Ile-de-France Regional Council.
- The complete revision of the design and navigation of the site in 2014.
Why this museum?
There are three main reasons behind its development:
- To share the specific characteristics of Protestant Christianity.
- To illustrate the significant moments of the history of Protestantism.
- To preserve the images, texts, paintings, drawings and objects that bear witness to the history of Protestants.
Above all, the museum’s aim is to serve as an educational, instructive and esthetic tool for explaining the development of the Protestant community in France since the 16th century.
What do its collections contain?
Currently, the collections include 1,000 articles, 2,800 images and 700 bibliographic references.
It is expanding progressively, particularly through the addition of videos and audio clips.
These items are divided among several spaces:
- A space devoted to articles, which account for most of the content. The articles are classified into five main headings:
- Major Dates: this is a selection of dates that are particularly significant for Protestantism. Here we find a short summary that leads to a more in-depth article through a system of internal links.
- History: The key events of the history of Protestantism are presented in chronological order. You can access the articles by century using the browser bar.
- Key Figures: here we find the key Protestant figures arranged in alphabetical order and/or by century.
- Themes: certain Protestant subjects are dealt with and grouped by theme.
- Art and Heritage: objects, works and the heritage associated with Protestantism are presented here.
- A tour space allows visitors to learn about major issues connected with Protestantism, by grouping together articles that belong to different headings.
- An exhibit space offers virtual exhibits, most often resulting from exhibits presented by Protestant museums or other institutions.
- A shop space, managed by one of our partners: which offers on-line purchases of books and DVDs directly associated with the history of Protestantism.
- A media library,which includes the library’s images, its bibliography, its documents, its videos and its audio clips organized with a search module.
- An account, that each visitor can create, which allows him to save, print and share with others the items of the museum he wishes.
The Museum also offers visitors several useful tools:
- An internal search module
- A glossary
- A geolocation tool that is activated for geolocatable articles
- The printing of boxes with a QR code allowing friends of the museum to establish remote connections to the articles thanks to QR codes.
Who prepares the museum content?
The museum content is prepared on a volunteer basis by an editorial committee, partners, individuals or legal entities.
Ownership of the museum items
The virtual museum of Protestantism is the exclusive property of the Fondation pasteur Eugène Bersier.
The items present on this site (texts, photos, videos, audio clips) do not belong to the museum; they have been entrusted to it exclusively for their use on this site or its byproducts (digital applications or books). Under no circumstances may they be used by Internet users for purposes other than a simple private copy.