AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY

This introductory study of the art and architecture of Freemasonry enters territory that will be unfamiliar to many people, yet there has been in Freemasonry much of real significance to European and American culture in visual and musical terms, and especially in architecture. This book is thus a unique and important contribution to an understanding of aspects of Western art.

Professor Curl traces the motifs and legends from Antiquity that have influenced Freemasonry, and explains the significance of recurring themes, such as the Temple of Solomon, the role of the Medieval Guilds, Hermeticism, and the often strange world of eighteenth-century Neoclassicism. He looks at the way Masonic ideas have permeated the designs of parks, gardens, and cemeteries, an at the literary and architectural aspects of the Masonic interest in Ancient Egypt. There is a fascinating discussion of Mozart’s Sublime opera, The Magic Flute, with an explanation of the Masonic and other elements in the music, libretto, and stage-designs.

The complex ideas and iconography of Freemasonry are clearly explained and supported by a glossary of Masonic terms and Professor Curl also demonstrates the close links between Freemasonry and architecture: in particular, he outlines the significance of the architect’s and mason’s instruments and tools, which in Freemasonry have important symbolic and moral connotations.

The illustrations are exceptional and are accompanied by detailed captions which are in themselves an illustrated history f elements found in Freemasonry. Professor Curl has undertaken original research, ranged widely over an enormous amount of material, and explored massive collection of literature as will be seen from his Bibliography.