Masonic symbols reflect mainly construction themes: square, hammer, hatchet. In addition, the Masons also collected more ancient signs, such as the six-pointed and five-pointed stars, the all-seeing eye, endowing them with their own secret meanings.
Architects left these secret signs on buildings, sometimes to unsuspecting owners, thus conveying messages to other Masons. Therefore, when you see something resembling Masonic symbols on a building, you need to study who was the architect and who was the owner of this house.

So, the main Masonic symbols and their meaning:

Radiant Delta- one of the most ancient symbols, in Christianity the sign of the “all-seeing eye”. This symbol has appeared in images since the times of Ancient Egypt. Among the Masons, the sign reminds of the all-pervading divine gaze, the presence of the Great Architect of the Universe (God) in all the deeds of the Masons
Two columns (Jachin and Boaz)- “established by power” and “established by God.” Two copper or brass pillars that stood in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem
Three rings- trinity of religions (Judaism, Christianity, antiquity)
Circle- symbol of eternity
Shell and pearls- symbols of self-development, every person, like a grain of sand, must grow into a pearl;
Freemason's Apron- attribute of belonging to Freemasonry
Ruler and plumb line- equality of classes
Compass- symbol of the public
Wild stone- crude morality, chaos
Acacia branch- immortality
Coffin, skull, bones- contempt for death, sadness about the disappearance of truth
Sword- punitive law
Salamander- ancient alchemical symbol
Chimeras- an impossible dream to strive for

Freemasonry has always been closely connected with architecture. It is no coincidence that members of the lodge called God the Great Architect or Architect of the Universe, and among the main symbols were a compass, a trowel and a plumb line. The very process of constructing a building could refer to the creation of a new, more perfect society. This is largely why the secret society revealed its philosophy to the world mainly through architecture. Of course, attributing one or another architectural element to Masonic symbolism immediately raises questions - in this one can see paranoia or confidence in the existence of a world behind the scenes. However, Freemasonry can be an opportunity to simply rediscover a familiar city as a place full of ancient mysteries and secret societies.

Architect V.I. Bazhenov, who built the palace in Tsaritsyno and many other buildings in Moscow, was also a Freemason. As you know, Catherine II did not accept this palace, ordered it to be dismantled and removed Bazhenov from construction.

The palace in Tsaritsyno, built by Bazhenov and his student Matvey Kazakov, is often called an “architectural reference book” of Masonic symbolism. You can see decorative elements similar to various compasses, stars or stairs on the facades of buildings, but they do not have a clear expression and can be interpreted in different ways... Catherine II expressed several wishes: that the building be in “Moorish” or “Gothic taste.” The architect took into account the wishes of the empress, but did not follow their lead. Of course, it should be borne in mind that in the 1770s there was a search in Russian architecture a new architectural language, in the process of which unusual ideas arose.

Catherine II liked the presented project, and construction began in May 1776. Three buildings were laid along the Birch Perspective (Small and Middle Palaces and the Third Cavalry Corps), pavilions and the Figured Bridge. The work was progressing successfully: already in August, Bazhenov reported that the Figurny Bridge was almost finished, and “the other three houses in half have already been erected, which will certainly be completed this summer, if bad weather does not take over.” However, by the end years, troubles began with building materials and financing; at times this was repeated throughout the construction, which lasted for a decade - contrary to the architect’s plans to complete it in three years. Bazhenov wrote numerous letters to officials so that construction would not stop; he even had to take out loans in his own name and carry out construction at his own expense. While working on the Tsaritsyn ensemble, Bazhenov was forced to sell his house in Moscow, along with all the furnishings and the library. During a visit to the construction, which was sudden, the Empress ordered to “cause significant damage” and present new project of the main palace. Construction was transferred to Bazhenov’s student M. Kazakov. It is unlikely that Catherine was fluent in the symbolism of the “free masons,” but there were plenty of ill-wishers. Despite the fact that a number of Masonic symbols go back to Christian emblems, all of Bazhenov’s Tsaritsyn buildings would have been demolished.

In his project, Matvey Kazakov tried, if possible, to preserve the style chosen by Bazhenov, based on the traditions of Moscow architecture of the 17th century, but nevertheless the new palace was in conflict with the existing buildings. However, the elements of Gothic architecture became more pronounced thanks to the eight towers that accentuated the corners along the perimeter of the palace . More than Bazhenov's predecessors, the Kazakovsky Palace looks like a classic medieval castle.

Some researchers suggest that the real reasons for the royal anger were Bazhenov’s affiliation with the Freemasons (the architect underwent an initiation ceremony in 1784 under the guarantee of N.I. Novikov and was accepted into the Deucalion lodge, whose chair master was S.I. Gamaleya) and his secret contacts with Tsarevich Pavel. Bazhenov's Freemasonry was clearly reflected in Tsaritsyn buildings. Decor of many buildings, mysterious lace stone patterns clearly resemble Masonic ciphers and emblems; the very construction of the ensemble, its layout is sometimes also considered a kind of Masonic cipher. The iconographic program of Tsaritsyn’s Masonic symbolism was repeatedly tried to decipher, but without any reliable result; admits that this is not yet possible. And yet...

In Europe there was only one Masonic lodge that accepted and would accept members as members. The symbol of this lodge was a lying pug. The design of the Grape Gate on the Tsaritsyno estate used to boast ceramic figures of these adorable animals, but, unfortunately, they are no longer there. But here is a vignette depicting a compass with grapevine, can still be seen. There are generally a lot of such finds in Tsaritsino.

In November 1796, Catherine the Great died suddenly. By this time, the construction of the Great Tsaritsyno Palace had been completed in rough form, the building was covered with a temporary roof, and interior finishing work had begun. The new Emperor Paul I, after his coronation in March 1797, visited Tsaritsino - he did not like it. On June 8 (19) of the same year, a decree “not to build any buildings in the village of Tsaritsyn” followed.

The Moscow excursion “In the footsteps of the free masons” turns out to be quite extensive.

On the bas-relief of house No. 11 in Gagarinsky Lane one can clearly see a number of symbols inherent in the secret lodge - standard for Masonic symbolism - a square, a hatchet and a spatula.

Masonic signs have been preserved in the interior of the Central House of Writers on Povarskaya. The house was built by the architect Pyotr Boytsov for Prince V.V. Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky. Then the mansion is acquired by Countess A.A. Olsufieva, whose husband was a famous Freemason, who lived here until 1917. Before the revolution, Masonic meetings were often held here. After the revolution (1928) this castle was transferred to the Writers' Union. It was this house that was the prototype of the massolite in M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”. In 1995, the Grand Lodge of Russia was registered in this building.

The house of the Insurance Company of Russia on Sretensky Boulevard is one of the most beautiful architectural monuments. The famous architect La Courboisier said that you can demolish the entire historical center of Moscow, but you must leave this particular house. The house was unique for its time: it contained only 146 apartments, with an area of ​​about 400 to 600 meters; own water supply and heating system. The first residents of the house were cultural figures, then military personnel. In Soviet times there were numerous communal apartments here.
The outside of the house is decorated with numerous images of wonderful animals, and a huge salamander is hidden under one of the balconies. I would like to note that the house was previously red. The columns that frame the windows were painted white and black (“Jachin and Boaz”). Under the very roof of the building you can see a figurine of an elephant - a symbol of Christ’s victory over death.

The facade of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Serebryaniki is decorated with a radiant delta.

The building of the former English Club (now the Museum modern history) is one of the few that survived the great fire in 1812. In 1826 it was rebuilt. On the left side of the central colonnade you can see a window framed by two columns (Joachin and Boaz), Chimeras on the gate and on the building itself, a triune wreath, lions with human faces, lions with rings in their teeth (“lions of silence”)
A lot of interesting details have been preserved in this house: there are several paintings depicting Masons, and fragments of a Masonic apron can be seen on the walls. It is worth paying attention to small room rectangular shape, no windows. In the details of the interiors you can see a rope that encircles one of the rooms. Such symbolism among the Masons meant that all Masons are connected to each other by a single thread. The second meaning is that once you get into this circle, it will be difficult to get out of it.

It is impossible to understand world culture from the Middle Ages to the present day without taking into account the enormous contribution of the Freemasons to it.
Prof. Dames Stevens Curl

The question of the influence of Masonic ideas on the field of artistic culture remains poorly studied in modern scientific literature. Either due to the complete disregard of scientists for this “unorthodox” topic, or due to the lack of factual material, which is largely due to the rule of secrecy adopted in Masonic lodges of some of their rituals, as well as the affiliation of their members to the Secret Brotherhood of Freemasons. Nevertheless, it is known that the architects Christopher Wren, John Soane, Boulet, Ledoux, William Hogarth, the writers Goethe, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Conan Doyle, Kipling, the great actors of the Shakespearean theater Garrick and Irving, the composers Mozart, Haydn, and also Winston Churchill, fourteen American presidents, starting with George Washington, and many major cultural and political figures, whose names, according to the rules of Freemasonry, were hidden from their contemporaries and did not reach their descendants.

There are many theories and myths surrounding the origins of Freemasonry. Its emergence in Europe is usually attributed to the Middle Ages, when art had not yet acquired an independent status, but was part of the universal context of spiritual culture. It is associated with the construction of huge cathedrals here, such as Chartres or Conterbury, the construction of which dragged on for hundreds of years. Thousands of builders from different countries came to their construction, and associations of people connected by professional interests arose here. These masons (Masons) had their own customs, production secrets, their own hierarchy, their own rites of passage - from apprentice to journeyman and from journeyman to master.

The cathedrals they built were not just architectural monuments. These were symbols of God, Truth, and the Universe, revealing to the initiates the deep secrets of existence. And in order to build them, these Masons had to have knowledge that would allow them to penetrate the secrets of the Divine plan and supermundane harmony. He saw the science of construction, architecture, and geometry as a body of sacred, esoteric knowledge, drawn first from the Bible, and later from the teachings of the East, antiquity, Ancient Egypt, Kabbalah and other mysterious sources penetrating Europe. These masons looked at their activities on a human scale as a reflection of what God himself, the Creator, the Great Architect of the Universe, carried out on a cosmic scale - they created order out of chaos. But between such practical, as it is called, Freemasonry and its modern forms There is both a direct connection and dramatic differences.

England was the birthplace of the new Freemasonry. The impetus for the emergence of permanent Masonic lodges was the great fire of London in 1666, which destroyed four-fifths of the wooden city. The gigantic scale of construction to restore the capital attracted tens of thousands of masons here, united in guilds and brotherhoods and adhering to their customs. Their organization, symbolism, and rituals were borrowed and laid as the foundation of a new, so-called speculative Freemasonry by its founders.

This new Freemasonry was guided not so much by the mystical teachings of the Middle Ages, but was associated with a new scientific worldview: with the discoveries of Galileo, Giordano Bruno, Newton, and more broadly, with the general rational and liberal spirit of the Enlightenment. Typically, these early Freemasons met in London taverns and private apartments, where they discussed Masonic matters, practiced rituals and accepted new members. These were prototypes of future Masonic lodges.

After the founding of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1717, Freemasonry began to enjoy royal patronage. It is believed that all English monarchs since George I (1714-1723) and with the single exception of George V have been members of the Secret Brotherhood. The Constitution of 1723 established the basic principles, goals and rituals mandatory for all Masonic lodges. In 1691, Christopher Wren was admitted to one of the early lodges. And it is quite natural that the ideas of Freemasonry first of all manifested themselves in architecture.

Builder of London's St. Pavla was not an architect by training. At Oxford, where Christopher Wren studied, his main subject of study was medicine, but his area of ​​interest went far beyond anatomy and healing. It included astronomy, mathematics, fortification, lens grinding, and theological problems, which Ren hoped to solve using mathematical calculations. In 1681, he became president of the Royal Scientific Society (Isaac Newton would replace him in this post). Wren owes his fame as a great architect to the great fire of London.

On September 2, 1666, a bakery near London Bridge caught fire, the wind carried the sparks to nearby wooden buildings, and as a result, more than 13 thousand houses burned down and 200 thousand Londoners were left homeless. Of the 109 active churches, 86 were destroyed or severely damaged, including the old one cathedral St. Pavel. Before the coals on its ruins had time to cool, Ren arrived here to examine the remains and began to create a plan for a new cathedral. In 1668, construction began on the Cathedral of St. Paul according to Ren's plan. Wren designed it in the austere style of Palladian architecture, derived from the Italian Renaissance. Six double columns supported the antabement of the first floor, above which rose a portico with a pediment of the second; two towers flanked the building on each side, and above it all, at a height of 360 feet, rose a huge dome 515 feet in diameter. Construction continued for almost forty years, and on October 20, 1708, in the presence of, as Wren’s family papers say, “dedicated Masons,” that is, members of the Brotherhood of Freemasons, his son, also Christopher, laid the last stone in the dome of St. Pavel. The elderly architect himself could no longer rise to such a height.

There is a huge literature about the work of Christopher Wren, but almost nothing is said about the influence of the ideas of Freemasonry on him, as well as on architecture in general. It is known that Ren became a member of one of the Masonic lodges when he was already seventy years old. In 1710 he took the high office of Master of this lodge and retained it until 1716. The names of his friends and scientific colleagues, who together with Wren form the core of the Royal Scientific Society, are found in the lists of members of Masonic lodges at the beginning of the 18th century. As an architect and leader of all construction work, Ren could not help but be well aware of the organization, rituals, and ideas of the old, “practical” Freemasonry. In the architectural heritage of Christopher Wren, these influences on the style of his buildings are quite difficult to trace. They manifest themselves only in his frequent use of paired or double columns that make up important element design and decoration of the Cathedral of St. Paul and many of his other buildings. In the complex symbolism of the Freemasons, the paired column occupied almost the central place. Two columns - Boaz and Jachin - stood in front of the entrance to the temple of Solomon, which they considered the prototype of all architecture, and symbolized active and passive, male and feminine. But perhaps these influences manifested themselves most clearly in the most rational spirit of Renov’s classicism, which broke with the Gothic of the past and aimed at the future.

The island position of England and its isolation from the pan-European artistic process greatly hampered the development of architecture in this country. During the time of Ren, the spirit of medieval Gothic still prevailed here, in the style of which the main temples were built, royal residences and residential areas. However, for the new generation this style seemed to be a barbaric relic of the past. “The Goths and Vandals,” wrote Wren’s close friend, the architect John Evelyn, “having destroyed Greek and Roman architecture, established in its place a fantastic, unsystematic style of construction, which we call modern and Gothic.” And the new architecture, he believed, should be freed from “Gothic barbarism.”

Christopher Wren died four years after the establishment of the United Grand Lodge of England in London and two before the adoption of the Constitution, binding on all Masonic lodges. The ideology of new speculative Freemasonry recorded in it was embodied in the work of the largest architect of the 19th century, Sir John Soane.

This son of a simple mason, and himself a brick-carrier in his youth at a construction site, was admitted to the Grand Lodge already in mature age, but his connections with Freemasonry began in his early years. As a young man, he joined a respectable club of architects, whose members regularly met for lunch at a Masonic tavern, where they discussed their affairs. His circle was somehow connected with the secret Brotherhood of Freemasons. In 1828 he designed big hall Masonic lodge, which, unfortunately, has not survived. There is also a portrait he commissioned of himself in costume with all the regalia of the Grand Master of the lodge; he was buried in it.

For the work of an architect, belonging to Freemasonry may mean nothing, or it may mean a lot. In Soane's buildings we are faced with a number of oddities that are difficult to understand otherwise as a reflection of the ideas of Freemasonry. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is one of his main creations - a museum in the Dulwich area in south London.

From the outside, the building is a blank brick block, devoid of windows and colonnades typical of classicism. Only two paired columns - Boaz and Jachin - flank one of its entrances. But when you find yourself in its internal space, you are immersed in streams of diffused light pouring from the lampshades. On the one hand, the absence of windows here was dictated by the functional purpose a building specifically designed for storing and displaying works of art. But on the other hand, such a functional idea coincided with the basic idea of ​​Freemasonry: behind our twilight material world there is a kingdom of light, separated from us by an insurmountable barrier, and the task of all humanity is to find the path to this kingdom. Death is only a way station on this path, it is not to be feared, and it occupies a large place in Masonic rituals and symbolism. And directly in accordance with this idea, Soane places in the center of the museum’s interiors the tomb of its three founders, topped with a dome - a unique case in the history of museum construction. Yellow glass is inserted into this dome, and when you find yourself in the space of the crypt, you get the feeling that it is early morning outside and the sun is rising, or, conversely, time goes by towards sunset. The artificial and the natural merge here not through the view from the window or plant props, but thanks to natural light. “The spell of Masonic symbolism,” writes Hugh Perman about Soane, “animates his architecture in the same way as they permeate the music of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, written in the same period.” Soane is often called the most subtle and lyrical architect of his time.

Soan created own version classicism in architecture. This is classicism without columns, porticoes and external decoration, very different from what was then widespread in Europe.

European classicism (or rather, neoclassicism) was largely generated by a rebellious spirit French Revolution. Its leaders were Louis David in painting, and Ledoux and Bullet in architecture. And again: the ideas of Freemasonry can be clearly seen, if not in David, then in the projects of French architects.

Already the first representatives of the new, “speculative” Freemasonry were people opposed to church and state dogmatism. They did not seek to create a new religion, they simply defended religious tolerance and wanted to unite representatives of different political views and faiths with a common goal: to promote social progress. The pre-revolutionary atmosphere of the 18th century in Europe was fertile ground for the spread of Masonic ideas, and it is still unknown whether the French Revolution borrowed the slogan “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” from Freemasonry, or whether Freemasonry adopted it from the revolution.

In France and Germany, Masonic lodges spring up like mushrooms after rain.

According to the mythology of free masons, the first architect on earth and, therefore, their direct predecessor was the builder of the Ark, the biblical Noah, into whom the Great Architect of the Universe himself invested the knowledge of geometry and mathematics, and one of the main symbols of their profession was a compass. Isaac Newton himself devoted an entire treatise to deciphering the "divine geometry" of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, as described in the first book of Kings Old Testament. Symmetry, rigor, simplicity of form - this has become a symbol of faith for many architects of the new generation since the time of Christopher Wren. Extreme forms of such ideas were embodied in the work of two architects of the French Revolution - Ledoux and Bulle. It is known about Ledoux that he was a member of the Masonic lodge; no such information has been preserved about Bull, but the influence of Freemasonry on his work is beyond doubt. Thus, his designs for the monument to Newton represent a giant ball, bordered by three rows of evergreen trees and built into a strict square of blank walls (in another project, into their semicircle). Bulle combines the clarity and simplicity of the forms of neoclassicism with the megalomania of the mausoleums of imperial Rome. The Ledoux steel mill project is a whole city with pyramids of foundries (the pyramid is one of the main Masonic symbols) and strict geometry in the location utility rooms. These projects remained on paper, like many utopian ideas of all revolutions. But from them there is a direct road to the social fantasies of Le Corbusier and other avant-garde artists of the 20th century.

Over the next two centuries, Freemasonry in England moved from architecture, where nine out of ten professionals were Freemasons, to professions such as police, law, and medicine, in which the predominance of Freemasons was obvious. The situation was more complicated with artists. Already in the Constitution of 1723, the basic principles defining the behavior of a Freemason within the Lodge and in personal life. This is: "1.Brotherly Love, which also means respect and tolerance for the opinions of others; 2. Help, not only to Masons, but also to other people; (Isn’t this where England is rightfully often called the country of philanthropy? - I.G .) 3. Truth, which means striving to achieve high moral standards oneself and thereby influence others.” The philosophy and morality of Freemasonry, “wrapped in allegory and illustrated by symbols,” are based on the latter, that is, on the desire for personal self-improvement. Given the unusually wide spread of Freemasonry among various circles of English society, its principles and ideas could not but influence the nature of art and the work of specific masters. But who were these masters - members of the Secret Brotherhood of Freemasons?

It is known that William Hogarth (1697-1764), who is rightly called the father of English art, was a Freemason. Almost all of this master’s work was devoted to exposing the morals and vices of society in order to raise the moral level of the population, in order to thereby promote social progress. He denounced debauchery (the series “The Career of a Spender” and “The Career of a Prostitute”), cruelty (the series “Three Degrees of Cruelty”), drunkenness (the engravings “Street of Gin” and “Street of Beer”), greed, self-interest, deceit... In his In his autobiography, Hogarth wrote that “subjects that entertain as much as they develop the mind should be considered as the most socially useful and placed above all else.” And in his personal life, following the Masonic principle of helping people, he spent a lot of energy and money on charity.

We do not know the names of other English Masonic artists. But was it not Masonic ideas that gave a sharp taste of “Victorian” morality to the aesthetic theories and political ideas of John Ruskin and forced him to squander all his considerable fortune on social charity? Did they not prompt Joshua Reynolds to attribute good taste only to virtuous people? And one more important point. A member of the Masonic lodge in England could be a man (women were not allowed here) of any concession - Christianity, Mohammedanism, Judaism, Buddhism - and any political views, but discussion at lodge meetings was strictly prohibited political issues. Freemasonry here clearly separated itself from politics. And isn’t it this that, for two centuries, kept English painting from solving vital problems? social problems and focused artists' attention on moral issues, everyday life and the mysteries of the universe? In the absence of facts, one can only make guesses here.

This is what the Freemasons believed, and their ideas directly coincided with the worldview of the Chairman of the Royal Scientific Society.

Over time, the places of these meetings turned into lodges, their leaders - into Masters or Guardians, and the traditional tools of masons - compasses, trowels, hammers, aprons, etc. - began to be used as symbols of precision, skill, and perfection. At the end of the 17th century there were at least four such Masonic lodges operating in London.

Freemasons in England prevailed in such professional fields as construction, advocacy, and police. All Masons, also outside of Great Britain, were united by the Grand Lodge of England, created in 1717.

England is rightfully considered the birthplace of Freemasonry. Since the beginning of the 18th century, Freemasonry has spread widely in the British Isles. As Professor James Curl, a researcher on this issue, writes: “The English of that time considered the cathedral the eighth wonder of the world, not only because of its grandeur, but also because of the timing of its construction. If the construction of the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rome lasted one hundred and twenty years and after Michelangelo in Since thirteen people were replaced as leading architects, St. Paul's in London was built three times faster and under the leadership of only one person."

During the construction of the cathedral and after its completion, Wren built a number of outstanding buildings in London: a hospital for war veterans in Chelsea, the Royal Home for Aged Sailors in Greenwich and the observatory building there, new interiors and buildings in the royal palace complexes, etc. d. For many years he occupied important post Royal Surveyor General of Buildings, and under his supervision the reconstruction of London took place. He and his disciples built most of the churches on the sites destroyed by fire. He enjoyed the fame of England's first architect. And yet, in his old age, Ren complained bitterly about Charles II, who distracted him from scientific research and forced “to devote all my time to garbage work.” He would prefer to remain a doctor.

In all this one could already feel the breath of the coming era - the Age of Enlightenment with its religious tolerance, rationalism, and desire for social change.

Sir John Soane (1753-1837)

How could this convinced Freemason, obsessed with the idea of ​​death, have such an influence on the architecture of the cities of our time? What kind of strange energy turned this brick-carrier on construction sites into Sir John Soane - academician and master of architecture of the 19th centurycentury, which is now widely copied and quoted by modern architects, who are neither classicists nor freemasons?
Hugh Perman

The answer to this question is given by Soane's biography. His father was a simple bricklayer, and young John began his career as a brick-carrier on the construction sites where his father and older brother worked. He could have followed in his father’s footsteps if not for talent and luck. When he was fifteen years old, the then famous architect George Dens noticed him and took him into his office. Soan was something of an errand boy for him, but he received access to the owner’s rich library and the opportunity to penetrate the secrets of the architectural craft. In 1771, he became a student of architecture at the Royal Academy, for his projects he received a gold medal and a scholarship, which gave him the opportunity to take part in a long Grand Tour of Italy.

In Italy, Soane not only studies classical monuments, but also makes acquaintance with some of the tour participants - his future customers and patrons, including the director of the Bank of England, Richard Boznquist. Through him, he received an order for the construction of the Bank of England buildings, in 1788 he began work and created a huge architectural complex - this, as it was called, “a city within a city.” In the 20th century, the complex was rebuilt, and only the banking hall with the adjacent premises remained from the original plan. This is a whole labyrinth of rooms and corridors without windows, illuminated artificial light; The main hall, as in a temple, is crowned with a dome, through which daylight penetrates here, and the whole thing looks like solemn church architecture.

The construction of the Bank of England complex brought Soane fame. Russian Tsar Alexander I himself, when he visited London with his sister the Duchess of Oldenburg in 1814, wanted to get acquainted with this building, was taken through all the rooms and asked Soane to show him preliminary drawings. Soan brought the drawings and presented them to the emperor. Professionally, Soan goes from success to success. He is elected to the Royal Academy, where he becomes a professor of architecture, and is appointed to high positions in the English construction administration.

It would seem that the son of a simple mason, who rose to the very top of society, should have only enjoyed life. At the end of his career, he was elevated to knighthood, he is the father of two sons, of whom he dreamed of making the successors of his business. But the youngest son died, and the eldest turned out to be a loafer, extorted money from the family, abandoned the profession of an architect and, becoming a small-time journalist, criticized his father’s architecture in one of his first articles. The break with his son was a heavy burden on Soan's soul, and for most of his life he was in a state of melancholy. He was intolerant of his opponents, in his lectures he allowed himself to attack the buildings of his colleagues, which was not accepted in academic practice and for which he was temporarily suspended from teaching activities. It seems that the only creature close to him was his beloved dog, after whose death he built a tomb in his house with the inscription: “Alas, poor Fanny.” But melancholy was strangely combined in Soane’s character with incredible energy, which allowed him, along with intense creative activity, to also compile his own collections of works of art from all times and peoples. From his trips abroad, he brought antique statues, Egyptian sarcophagi, and architectural fragments from different eras.

In 1807 Soane acquired big house in the center of London and remade it in my own way. He divided this typical English house (now housing the John Soane Museum) into two parts: a living area on the upper floors, where the living room, dining room, and bedrooms are located, and a museum area for his collections. The layout of this house, as well as his collections, seems to embody the Masonic soul of the architect. Freemasonry taught that humanity must discover what has been lost, penetrate the wisdom and knowledge of bygone civilizations and with their help find the secret of perfection. To do this, all people must try to build a Temple of Humanity, where everything valuable from human knowledge will be stored and where the memory of the lost past will be revived. And it seems that Soan himself built such a temple in the lower floors of his own house.

When you get here, you find yourself in some kind of ghostly space of a labyrinth or catacombs. You make your way through narrow passages and find yourself in rooms where paintings by his friend Turner and Hogarth hang, drawings by Piranesi, and there is an authentic sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti I; you go down the stairs - and in the lower rooms you come across either the tomb of a dog, then another tomb of a certain monk, then models of ancient temples, then suddenly courtyards open before your eyes, a kind of light wells, filled to capacity with architectural fragments of different cultures. All this plus the absence of windows and overhead or artificial light create an atmosphere of some kind of mysterious mystery.

The labyrinthine complexity of the spatial solution here is not just the fruit of Soane’s melancholy fantasy. The labyrinth as a person’s path from life through death to a higher existence is one of the most ancient ideas of Freemasonry: labyrinths were inscribed on the floors of cathedrals such as Reims and Chartres by old masons. This path is complex, gloomy and tortuous, and many dangers await a person on it; he must overcome evil and go through several stages of good, just as in “The Magic Flute” Tamino, finding himself in the kingdom of Zarathustra, passes through three castles: Nature, Reason and Wisdom.

The Masonic cult of death as an intermediate stage on man's path to the kingdom of light, which so clearly manifested itself in the layout and design of his own home, leaves its mark on all of Soane's work. He is the author of numerous tombstones and monuments directly related to this cult. Ordinary Christian symbolism is replaced in them by Masonic emblems: a snake biting its tail - a symbol of eternity, a compass and trowel - attributes of the Great Architect of the Universe, paired columns, and even the geometric shapes These tombstones - cubes, cones, pyramids - also carry the symbolic meanings attached to such geometry by the Freemasons.

Little of Soane's work has survived. Its main buildings - the Bank of England complex, the main hall of the Masonic lodge, the interior of the English parliament, residential buildings of the English aristocracy, etc. - were destroyed or underwent radical reconstruction. The scarcity of what has survived and the unusual approach to architectural problems for his time pushed Soane’s work into the shadows for a long time, despite the fact that many of his innovations during his lifetime became part of the practice of architectural construction: the overhead lighting of the Dulwich Gallery became a model for the construction of museum buildings, its dome was copied by many architects, paired columns were transferred to the facades of houses... and even to the point of curiosity: red telephone booth, which, together with double-decker buses, has become an invariable attribute of the English urban landscape, designed in 1924 by Gilbert Scott, exactly repeats one of Soane's tombstones.

Soane's second discovery occurred only in the second half of the twentieth century. The largest architects of the era of postmodernism and high-tech (architecture high technology) - Japanese Arato Isajaki, American Louis Kahn and others - saw in him their direct predecessor. Obviously, due to many specific features of his style. If before him classicist architects, including Christopher Wren, dressed their buildings in the clothes of Greco-Roman colonnades, then Soane abandoned order decorations and imitation of classical forms, leaving the pure architectonics of the building. In the history of architecture, his buildings represent a rare case - classicism without warrant, without imitation, without decoration. The constructive rigor of the exteriors, the free organization of the interior space - all this turned out to be in tune with the spirit of modern architecture. And, perhaps, the most important thing is the poetic spirituality of his vision, combining design, plasticity, form, light into a single whole, this is the orientation of his architecture not only to the practical and functional purpose of the building, but also to its inscription in a certain cosmic order of the universe and human life . To put it somewhat crudely, we can say that modern architecture has followed the Soan rather than the Ren path.

Christopher Wren

The main principles of Christopher Wren were non-churchism (with the obligatory condition of faith in a Supreme Being) and apoliticality. Of course, any member of the Lodge in his private and professional life could be a politician of any persuasion, and a preacher of his religion, but at Masonic meetings, discussion of issues of faith and politics was strictly prohibited. And when the French Grand Lodge of the East dropped all references to a Supreme Being in its rituals in the 1870s and began to become involved in politics, it was immediately informed that until these changes were reversed, English Freemasonry would not recognize it as legitimate.

Already on September 11, he presented it to King Charles II. This was the plan not only for a new cathedral, but also for a new capital. Wren proposed demolishing all the damaged and surviving buildings of most of medieval London and building a new city in their place. Instead of the spontaneously formed, intricate pattern of narrow streets, Wren's plan envisioned a straightforward division of the new districts into clear blocks, separated from each other by wide avenues. This innovative plan was not implemented in England. But 130 years later and five thousand kilometers from London in America, Wren's plan was used as the basis for the planning of Washington and other American cities.

Mathematics, Ren believed, is the key to all problems - everything created can be expressed in numbers and, in his words, “architecture owes its existence entirely to mathematics.” And not only Ren recognizes the existence of the Great Architect of the Universe. The Masons considered their task to be the improvement of society, which can be achieved primarily through personal moral self-improvement. A person, they believed, who has embarked on this path is a wild, uncut stone. And just as the former masons, polishing blocks of stone, built palaces and cathedrals from them, so Freemasonry must build a single Temple of Humanity or the Temple of the Spirit from processed human blocks. And what could serve as a more accurate allegory for creating a better society than the construction of a real building? And it is natural that the influence of Masonic ideas primarily manifested itself in architecture. It is believed that in the 18th and 19th centuries, nine out of ten English architects belonged to the Secret Brotherhood.

But when did he become acquainted with Freemasonry and come into contact with members of the fraternity? And here we enter the area of ​​assumptions and hypotheses, which are often not confirmed by facts.

From that moment on, almost all the Grand Masters of the lodge were dukes, earls, princes - future English kings, and this, naturally, attracted the highest English aristocracy and business circles to Freemasonry. Donations coming from here formed the financial base of Freemasonry, and this allowed them to carry out one of their main functions - charity. The Masons built a wide network of hospitals, schools, homes for the elderly and help for the needy.

Notes:

1. Now it houses the Bank of England Museum.

2. The famous architectural theorist Alexander Rappoport believes that Renov’s plan for the reconstruction of London - the first plan in Europe to build a city from scratch - influenced the layout of St. Petersburg under construction. When Peter I visited London in 1698, he already had a plan to build a new northern capital. The king was very interested in architecture. For himself and his retinue, he rented the estate of Wren’s close friend, the architect John Evelyn, and carefully examined the new buildings, including Christopher Wren’s. It is possible (although no information about this has survived) that he also met with Wren himself and probably saw his plan for rebuilding London - the first plan in Europe to build a huge city from scratch.

One could easily write a fascinating novel about Moscow in the spirit of Dan Brown. If you look carefully at ancient buildings, it turns out that a lot of their design can be interpreted as signs of secret societies, for example, the Freemasons.

Freemasonry has always been closely connected with architecture. It is no coincidence that members of the lodge called God the Great Architect or Architect of the Universe, and among the main symbols were a compass, a trowel and a plumb line. The very process of constructing a building could refer to the creation of a new, more perfect society. This is largely why the secret society revealed its philosophy to the world mainly through architecture.

Of course, attributing this or that architectural element to Masonic symbolism immediately raises questions - this can be seen as paranoia or confidence in the existence of a world behind the scenes. However, Freemasonry can be an opportunity to simply rediscover a familiar city as a place full of ancient mysteries and secret societies.

Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”

St. Bolshaya Ordynka, 20

Unlike America, there have never been real Masonic churches in Russia. At the same time during construction Orthodox churches Masonic architects often left messages “for their own.” The Sorrow Church was built by two architects, members of the lodge, Bazhenov and Beauvais. Among the decorative elements that can be interpreted as Masonic is a portico with two columns, referencing the columns of the Temple of Jerusalem - Yakin and Boaz. In addition, the temple has a very unusual iconostasis - only one row of icons, over which hangs a canopy, which among the Masons marks the place for the chair of the lodge president.

Sklifosovsky Institute

Bolshaya Sukharevskaya square, 3

The “hospital house” of Count Sheremetev was built according to the design of Giacomo Quarenghi and opened in 1810. It was built not only as a charitable institution, but also as a monument to the count’s deceased wife, the former serf Praskovya Zhemchugova. On the pediment of the building, one of the most important Masonic symbols is the radiant delta, a triangle, inside of which is the sign of the all-seeing eye. The eye symbolizes the constant attention of the Creator; the rays emanating from the delta are a sign of the eternal radiance of wisdom.

Yushkov House

St. Myasnitskaya, 21

The last building erected by Bazhenov has an unusual layout reminiscent of a cornucopia, an important Masonic symbol. In this place meetings were held and lodge ceremonies were performed. The house is also famous for the fact that another Freemason, the publisher Novikov, set up a public reading room in it, open to all people regardless of origin. Currently located here Russian Academy painting, sculpture and architecture.

Menshikov Tower (Church of the Archangel Gabriel)

Arkhangelsky lane, 15-a.

Built in the 17th century, the church was rebuilt by Mason Gavriil Izmailov in 1773 and was used for meetings of the nearby Masonic Pedagogical Seminary. However, in 1852, by order of Metropolitan Philaret, numerous symbols of the lodge on the church were knocked down. As a souvenir, there were figures holding empty scrolls above the southern entrance - apparently, objectionable inscriptions were erased from them instead of being destroyed entirely.

Necropolis of the Donskoy Monastery

Donskaya sq., 1

Unlike residential areas of Moscow, naturally, no one controlled the spread of Masonic symbols in the cemetery. While the city was changing and rebuilding, the old Donskoye Cemetery retained its ancient appearance, an integral part of which are Masonic graves. Lodge members can be identified by headstones in the form of a chopped tree or images of a radiant delta on their graves.