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UPDATE
The mystery has been solved. Read the comments. Many thanks to everyone for their help.
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Can You Identify This?
==================================
UPDATE
The mystery has been solved. Read the comments. Many thanks to everyone for their help.
17 comments:
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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.
ReplyDeleteAs 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.
ReplyDeleteInteresting 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
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that that they would raid lodges and put things like this on display.
Chris -
ReplyDeleteTough 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
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.
ReplyDeleteAnd no matter how many times a real Mason debunks this, the photo resurfaces a few months later.
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.
ReplyDeleteThis 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
ReplyDeleteI believe it's from Spain...
ReplyDeleteA 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/
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/
ReplyDeleteRobert Herd
Editor: Living Stones Masonic Magazine.
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.
ReplyDeleteChris...WB Rob Herd provides:
ReplyDeletet'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/
Many thanks to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pepe-rodriguez.com/Masoneria/Represion/Documentos_masoneria_represion_museo.htm
Fraternal regards,
Stephen Alexander
Reagan Lodge #1037 AF&AM
Houston, TX
As others have mentioned before, this "lodge" is located in the Archivo Histórico de Salamanca (Salamanca Historical Archive).
ReplyDeleteThe 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
I think it looks like an Eastern country, possibly turkish
ReplyDeleteBro Sean
"Actually, I believe it's the spread of Freemasonry to the planet Tatooine within the merchant Jawas society."
ReplyDeleteROFL
Indeed, Bro.
Edgard Freitas, FC
Estrela do Sul Lodge #54
Grand Lodge - State of Bahia, Brazil
This is amazing! It shows better than almost anything could the baroque nature of anti-Masonry!
ReplyDelete