Freemasonry was born in England at the beginning of the 18th century. She was accepted in France about 1730 and rose with the philosophy of the "Lumières" (i.e. enlightened philosophers like Voltaire). After having influenced the liberal nobility, it deeply marked the French Revolution. The Empire borrowed much of its formalism. It was again an essential source under the Third Republic (1871-1940). Many architects included in their work the Masonic symbolic system. The frontispiece of the Declaration of the Human Rights and of the Citizen is decorated with Masonic symbols.

The fashion joined this inspiration and lead to styles using these forms. Without the knowledge of the initiate or historical source, it is difficult to affirm the actual Masonic significance of some architectural elements, which may be only relevant to the general style.

Here is a short list, pointing only monuments clearly Masonic.

The pyramid of the park Monceau

Among the fabriques of the park Monceau, an Egyptian pyramid ...

Philippe d'Orléans bought an estate in the Monceau plain to arrange a residence. He chose the Carmontelle painter to design the park and the architect Poyet to build various monuments (ruins, colonnade, small obelisk, pyramid, a naumachia, a Chinese pavilion and a Dutch windmill, etc.) or "fabriques".

First Master of the Grand Orient de France, he didn't forget to give to some of his fabriques a Masonic significance. From the remains, this pyramid is the most explicit. A pavilion (now destroyed) probably functioned as a Masonic temple. With the Revolution, Philippe d'Orléans became Philippe Egalité and voted the death penalty for his cousin the king Louis XVI. During the Terror (the bloodiest period of the Revolution) he had been himself decapitated.

One of the fabriques of the famous Désert de Retz, the pyramid-shaped ice-house is similar. I don't believe however that the latter has a Masonic significance. They are inspired from the pyramid to Caius Cestius in Roma.

The monument of the Human Rights, commemorating the bicentenary of the Revolution.

Work of Ivan Theimer, this monument installed in 1989, inspired by Egyptian temples, comprises many Masonic symbols. Nothing is artificial there, since they testify to this historical moment where the Masonic way of thinking was the very true base of the policy.

The monument of the Human Rights




East face --- west

Any walker notices the triangle of the western frontage (still that an incongruous bronze seal " town of Paris " disturbs its perfection).

The pylons of bronze of the western frontage is covered of a profusion of signs, symbols, texts with very thin details in moulding, of which the "Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen". Most of them are Masonic.

Details of the west face --- of the east face



These pictures were shot a quite dark day in winter.
I will replace them with other caught with a better light.
Here are some:

The Louvre

Napoléon the 1^st was a Free-Mason, although this fact isn't widely reported. Relating his achievement as Emperor to symbolic sagas, he added statues of Isis and Manco-Capac, son of the Inca god of the Sun, who are looking at the rising Sun in the Cour Carrée. On the left side, an architect handling a compass would be Hiram.

Melt with classic statues in the Cour Carrée, an Egyptian goddess and an Inca god ...

The whole Louvre would be in shape of a Masonic temple.

Some monuments in the Père Lachaise cemetery

The following tombs are NOT masonic - they are from egyptomaniacs
Pyramids and an obelisk in Père Lachaise

Some other monuments

Place de la Nation


Square Paul Langevin

The pyramid of the Louvre and the Great Arch : are they truly Masonic ?

The pyramid in Louvre --- Grande Arche at la Défense

Some absent

The frontages of the headquarters of Masonic obediences built in the XIX^th century comprise Masonic symbols; some are curious, none is a great work. The later ones are neutral, such as the head office of GODF, street Cadet, of which the frontage of the XIX^th century is hidden by a modern mask, or the superb (but unfortunately somewhat clustered) center of the street Christine-de-Pisan that built the GLNF when she left Neuilly.

The catacombs shelter decorations of an intense Maconic inspiration (even of columns, engraved symbols or texts). I don't plan to return there soon.

Street Jacob a temple of the Friendship of a few tens of square meters, hidden to the public, is undoubtedly the most romantic Masonic construction of Paris. Unless than this secrecy excite too much my imagination...

In Paris area

This solar boat, a government order to the sculptor Karel, completed in 1993, was installed in the hedge of the castle of Rambouillet. Without having particular information, its Masonic inspiration seems obvious.