"To preserve the reputation of the Fraternity unsullied must be your constant care."

BE A FREEMASON

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Can You Identify This?

A brother sent me this photo. Can anyone identify it, the country and obedience? Click it to enlarge.
==================================
UPDATE
The mystery has been solved. Read the comments. Many thanks to everyone for their help.

18 comments:

  1. Definitely a Continental obedience, either Ancient & Primitive or Ancient & Accepted Rite. Could be anywhere from Peru or Venezuela to Belgium. Note the stage rails and regalia.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As luck would have it, I just read an article about this in "Freemasonry Today". It's actually a fake lodge room created by Franco as part of an intended exhibit on the evils of Freemasonry. The dark hooded figures are, of course, dolls representing satanic Freemasons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting picture. I don't have an answer, but in an odd way it sort of reminds me of the propaganda lodges that the National Socialist German Workers' Party (the NAZI's) would set up to make the German public think the Masons were sinister. See one here: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_ph.php?MediaId=5781

    My understanding is that that they would raid lodges and put things like this on display.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chris -

    Tough one. In examining the photo:

    1. Above the door is "ALGDGADU" which, when translated is, TTGOTGAOTU - to the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe.
    This is Spanish, meaning it could be Spain or South America (Columbia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexican, etc.)

    2. "G.E." is Mayan and when translated means "Generator of Life" (but I'm not 100% sure of this).

    3. The triangular symbol to the right says "Esperanza" which means "Hope" (It is also the name for several towns in South America).

    Hope this helps.

    All the Best,
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my. This photo has been circulating around Reddit for the last couple of years as an example of what a "real" Masonic lodge looks like.

    And no matter how many times a real Mason debunks this, the photo resurfaces a few months later.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I understand it is quite common to perform initiations in Italy in this manner today - where all the members will be wearing dark pointy hat/robe outfit, with their apron worn backwards - the candidate is not blindfolded.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This fake lodge is located in Salamanca (Spain), inside the General Archive of The Spanish Cicil War. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Archive_of_the_Spanish_Civil_War

    ReplyDelete
  8. I believe it's from Spain...

    A photo from an exhibit called "The Masonic Lodge" in Salamanca, Spain. Apparently the purpose of the exhibit is to show the Craft from an anti-masonic point of view. It looks like the photos originated from this site http://es.paperblog.com/ramoneando-con-la-devolucion-del-patrimonio-masonico-800194/

    ReplyDelete
  9. a photo from an exhibit called "The Masonic Lodge" in Salamanca, Spain. Apparently the purpose of the exhibit is to show the Craft from an anti-masonic point of view. It looks like the photos originated from this site http://es.paperblog.com/ramoneando-con-la-devolucion-del-patrimonio-masonico-800194/

    Robert Herd
    Editor: Living Stones Masonic Magazine.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think SimonChris is probably correct. I have seen that picture in conspiracy sites & in some anti-masonry sites. None of which are able to offer up any useful information about where it was actually from.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chris...WB Rob Herd provides:

    t's a photo from an exhibit called "The Masonic Lodge" in Salamanca, Spain. Apparently the purpose of the exhibit is to show the Craft from an anti-masonic point of view. It looks like the photos originated from this site http://es.paperblog.com/ramoneando-con-la-devolucion-del-patrimonio-masonico-800194/

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't have facts to add, but I found the site the photo is apparently from; the site has an explanation (in Spanish; google translate does a passable English of it). There are also additional photos of the thing.
    http://www.pepe-rodriguez.com/Masoneria/Represion/Documentos_masoneria_represion_museo.htm

    Fraternal regards,

    Stephen Alexander
    Reagan Lodge #1037 AF&AM
    Houston, TX

    ReplyDelete
  13. As others have mentioned before, this "lodge" is located in the Archivo Histórico de Salamanca (Salamanca Historical Archive).

    The temple was assembled using furniture and regalia confiscated from masonic lodges after Franco's Nationalist faction took power in Spain at the end of the Civil War.

    The different elements were indeed, set to portray a negative image of the Fraternity. However, it still resembles the way lodges were decorated during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Ibero-American countries.

    Regarding the hoods, some lodges still use them in the same region. Another common practice was the use of symbolic names that were adopted after a candidate was initiated.

    These practices apparently originated (in Freemasonry) with the Rite of Strict Observance and were later adopted in the rituals of the Blue Lodge degrees according to the Ancient and Accepted Rite as practiced in Continental Europe.

    More pictures of the temple can be found here:

    http://www.pepe-rodriguez.com/Masoneria/Represion/Documentos_masoneria_represion_museo.htm

    ReplyDelete
  14. Actually, I believe it's the spread of Freemasonry to the planet Tatooine within the merchant Jawas society. :)

    Donnie Robinette, PM
    Franklin Lodge #107, Indiana

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think it looks like an Eastern country, possibly turkish

    Bro Sean

    ReplyDelete
  16. "Actually, I believe it's the spread of Freemasonry to the planet Tatooine within the merchant Jawas society."

    ROFL

    Indeed, Bro.

    Edgard Freitas, FC
    Estrela do Sul Lodge #54
    Grand Lodge - State of Bahia, Brazil

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is amazing! It shows better than almost anything could the baroque nature of anti-Masonry!

    ReplyDelete

ATTENTION!
SIGN YOUR NAME OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFY YOURSELF IN YOUR COMMENT POSTS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT.
Your comments will not appear immediately because I am forced to laboriously screen every post. I'm constantly bombarded with spam. Depending on the comments being made, anonymous postings on Masonic topics may be regarded with the same status as cowans and eavesdroppers, as far as I am concerned. If you post with an unknown or anonymous account, do not automatically expect to see your comment appear.