Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Museum of Freemasonry originated in a circular issued in 1889 to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution and highlight the role of Freemasonry. Located in the Hôtel du Grand Orient de France, rue Cadet in Paris, he was born as a "office of curiosities", gathering pieces already held by the Grand Orient, as a medallist reported in the 1840s. A call is made to the lodges to enrich the collections, gradually transforming the space into a place of preservation of the Masonic heritage. Arthur Groussier, an iconic great master, actively contributed to his development in the interwar period.

Under the occupation (1940-1944), the museum was looted and confiscated by the Nazis and the Vichy regime. His collections are partly used for the "Anti-Masonry Exhibition" of the Petit Palais in 1940, while the rest is stored square Rapp. At the time of Liberation, the restored remains were kept in crates for lack of resources. Only in 1973, for the bicentenary of the Grand Orient, the museum reopens under the name "Musée du Grand Orient de France et de la Franc-maçonnerie européenne", with the support of the Direction des Musées de France and a modernized museumography.

The 1980s marked a new phase of renovation, notably after the acquisition of works at the Baylot sale (1987). At the turn of the 21st century, the museum, deemed outdated, was undergoing major restructuring under the impetus of Grand Master Alain Bauer. The objective is to symbolically open the headquarters of the Greater East on the city, creating transparent spaces and an innovative museum path. The new museum, inaugurated in 2010, offers a looped scenography, combining a central "strand of time" and thematic "reading keys", all bathed in light in light-obscured.

The collections, enriched over the decades, include paintings, prints, ritual objects, furniture and paper archives. Among the flagship pieces are Voltaire's apron, the sword of La Fayette, or 18th-century earthenware with masonic decoration. The museum occupies the former ballroom of the Chaulnes Hotel, the headquarters of the Grand Orient since 1851, and houses 17 Masonic temples of various styles (Second Empire, Art Deco). Its funding was supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Île-de-France region and the City Hall of Paris.

Today, the museum is a place of memory and reflection, open to all obedience. It illustrates the medieval origins of the masonry, its modernization in the eighteenth century, its role during the Revolution and the Empire, as well as its evolution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Friends of the Museum association and a scientific committee, created in 1999, work to disseminate its heritage and make it a space for dialogue between past and present.

External links