Belgian Masonic Lodge Responds To Vandalism By Opening Its Doors To The Public

by Christopher Hodapp

Note: I spotted this story back in April on the 450.fm website (La loge "La Flandre" à Bruges Louvre set ports au public"). Unfortunately, I neglected to post it then. So forgive the tardiness.

Founded in 1881, La Flandre Loge (Flanders Lodge) is the oldest Masonic lodge located in the city of Bruges in the West Flanders region of Belgium. Bruges is a city nicknamed the "Venice of the North" for its canals and medieval heritage, and many of the city's oldest streets are paved with cobblestones. While the lodge was meeting back in January, a vandal picked up one of those cobblestones from the street and hurled it through the front window of the Masonic hall. 

In response, the lodge opened its doors to the public and showed off its unique interior spaces. For the first time, the lodge opened its doors to the public during the city's 'Heritage Days' celebration to hopefully demonstrate to the community that Freemasonry isn't bizarre, spooky, or a threat to anyone. 

And in a public event, the Masons formally returned the cobblestone to the city. 

Built in 1910, La Flandre's temple contains a large meeting room, a bar, a dining room and the lodge room itself. Egyptomania was in full swing throughout the Western world at the time of its design, and the building is filled with Egypt-themed artwork and architecture. 

Lodges throughout Europe don't generally welcome the community into their buildings and openly discuss the fraternity. The public outreach approach that is so widespread in the U.S. and the U.K. is extremely unusual for European Freemasonry, where anti-Masonic sentiment has been an everyday fact of life ever since the French Revolution. And after the persecution of Freemasons in the Nazi-occupied countries during World War II, in the post-war Soviet bloc, and in Franco's Spain, European Masons have been understandably reticent to reveal their membership or in any way advertise their existence to the public. Many European grand lodges have museums that are open to the public (and Belgium has several), but that's a long way away from 'Here's our lodge and here we are!'

According to an article on the 450.fm website (La loge "La Flandre" à Bruges Louvre set ports au public"), La Flandre Lodge has about 90 members. I believe that it is chartered by the Grand Orient de Belgique (Grand Orient of Belgium - GOB), the oldest obedience in the country, which is similar to the Grand Orient de France in that it does not require a belief in a Supreme Being and doesn't forbid the discussion of social and political topics in the open lodge. However, Belgium has other major obediences, such as the La Grande Loge de Belgique (Grand Lodge of Belgium - GLB), La Grand Loge Régulaire de Belgique (Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium - GLRB), and the Grand Female Lodge of Belgium (GLFB), founded in 1981. The overwhelming majority of regular, recognized, male-only Masonic grand lodges around the world are in amity with the GLRB.

Lodge Photos: Koen Theuns