In 1982 my study was bombed", Professor José Antonio Ferrer Benimeli, an urbane Spanish scholar, suddenly had everybody’s attention; he paused as a memory shadow slipped quickly across him, "and I lost fifteen years of work". Masonic research in Spain, even after the death of Franco, still had its dangers.
    Professor Ferrer Benimeli, President of CEHMI (Centre for Historical Studies of Spanish Freemasonry) and Professor of Modern History at Zaragoza University, is the author of countless books on Spanish masonic history and he has had his problems with right-wing anti-masonic terrorists. Today he was at Canonbury, in Islington, speaking to a conference organised by the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre. His subject was anti-masonic art produced in Spain under Franco, an art-form which was used to attack republicanism; indeed, eight government ministers in the Republican government were active Freemasons. When the Minister for War was initiated, a cartoon appeared depicting a pupil asking, "How do you find the centre of politics?". "With the Square and Compasses", the teacher replied.
    Professor Ferrer Benimeli explained that masonry was identified with Marxism, Zionism, Catalan nationalism, and Basque separatism, all enemies of Franco’s government. In fact, Franco was so obsessively opposed to Freemasonry that he personally wrote an anti-masonic book which was issued under a pseudonym. The large audience at Canonbury were learning that masonic research also took courage.

The Centre at Canonbury

The Canonbury Masonic Research Centre (CMRC) was set up in 1998 to study the symbolic expression of the sacred, to show Freemasonry’s significant role in this task, and to act as a forum, not only to bring together masonic scholars from different allegiances, but to bridge the gap between masonic and academic scholarship. For this it organises an annual academic conference. Its third, "The Visual Arts and Freemasonry", was held 10-12 November in the Canonbury Academy, Islington. No mere report could do justice to the occasion; thankfully, all the papers will be published.
    Professor Andrew Prescott, Centre for Research into Freemasonry, University of Sheffield, opened the proceedings with a paper on John Pine, the engraver of the frontispiece in the first Book of Constitutions, Engraver of Seals at the College of Arms, and a colleague of Freemason, William Hogarth. Professor Prescott asked, "Why don’t art historians use this information?" The answer, he explained, is that there is a great lack of bibliographic collections relating to the theme of art and Freemasonry with the result that masonic and external scholarship run in parallel, with little contact occurring between the two.

Solomon’s Temple and Auschwitz

Professor Robert van Pelt, of Waterloo University, Canada, an historian of architecture, presented a paper on the conceptions of the design of Solomon’s Temple.
    He had acted as an expert witness in a recent case involving denial of the Holocaust. Because of Professor van Pelt’s information it collapsed spectacularly. As a result of his research, Professor van Pelt knows a thing or two about the Nazi death-camps.
    "Auschwitz and the plan of Solomon’s Temple have close similarities", Professor van Pelt declared. Mouths dropped. Had we misheard?
    There had always been speculation about the dimensions and the role of King Solomon’s Temple in the Christian monastic tradition; Jewish scholarship remained uneasy about such representations. In the 16th century, a Jesuit, Juan Bautista Villalpando published illustrations of the Temple drawn from details given in the books of Kings and Chronicles and the vision described by Ezekiel (Chaps 40 - 43).
    Villalpando described Solomon’s Temple as an image of the universe – deriving from the desert tabernacle: the twelve tribes around it related to the zodiac, the four classes of the Levites serving it related to the four elements. The Temple itself had seven courtyards which were dedicated to the seven planets. The altar was in the centre which echoed the Ptolemaic universe with the earth at its’ centre.
    This influenced the design of the Escorial. And, in a dark twist of fate, it also influenced the design of Auschwitz. Most chillingly, the crematoria at Auschwitz were placed at the position of the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple. Professor van Pelt placed a transparency of Auschwitz over an illustration of Villalpando’s design. All could see that he was correct. Something deeply disturbing lay behind Nazi architecture.

The artistic and esoteric milieu

Dr. José Anes, Grand Master of Portugal, examined the enigmatic palace of Sintra, near Lisbon. Its peculiar design of towers and subterranean tunnels suggest its use in some Hermetic esoteric Rite. Two wells had stairs leading down thirty metres through nine levels. Galleries led off from the well and connected with a whole complex of other underground passages. It clearly demands further study.
    Robert Gilbert, a Past Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, noted the use of masonic publications for political propaganda. German Art Historian, Dr. Ursula Terner, looked at English and Scottish masonic certificates and diplomas in order to investigate how Freemasonry expressed itself in art. This question was amply answered by two further papers: Pascal Bagou, archivist of Grand Orient of France, described the life of painter and Freemason, Juan Gris, initiated in 1923 into the Voltaire Lodge, Paris, and a close friend of Picasso, Man Ray, Bracque, and Freemason, Jacques Lipsich. Jacques Huygebert, from Prague, spoke on the Czech Art-Deco designer and painter, Alphonse Mucha, whose fame began with his poster of Sarah Bernhardt. He was initiated into Freemasonry in 1898 and in 1922 became Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Rite in Czechslovakia. None of the many biographies mention his masonic affiliation yet he was a prolific masonic lecturer speaking almost once each week. His lectures have never been studied.
    Dr Joe Rock, Edinburgh University, talked on the Scottish engraver, Jacobite and Freemason, Richard Cooper, who established the first Academy of Art in Edinburgh in 1729. Leon Zeldis, Honorary Assistant Grand Master of Israel and formerly also Sovereign Grand Commander, looked at masonic tracing boards. He pointed out that in Hebrew "stairway" and "ladder" are the same word; the ladder in the First Degree Tracing Board connects earth with heaven and symbolises man’s aspiration. The artist Juan Miro often used this symbol, calling it the "ladder of escape". Dr Michael Vickers, Oxford University, described the use of the Royal Cubit in historical buildings, a practice deriving from speculation on the design of the Temple. Andrea Kroon, a doctoral researcher from the Netherlands, revealed the fruits of the close links between Dutch East Indian trade and Freemasonry – at one time the Grand Master of Holland was also the Governor of the Dutch East Indies – presenting an analysis of a number of Japanese lacquer boxes worked with masonic symbolism. Dr Jan Snoek, Heidelberg University, investigated the work of masonic jeweller Johan Burchhardt, born and initiated in Leiden, who, when later resident in London, created jewels of extraordinary quality, including one for Lord Moira, now in the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London. Dr. David Bellman, formerly of McGill University, Montreal, spoke on the photographer and esoteric Freemason, Alvin Langdon Coburn, whose approach to photography was deeply spiritual and whose work will be exhibited in Freemasons’ Hall during summer 2002.
    The Conference was a great success, and CMRC manager, Carole McGilvery, and conference organiser, Matthew Scanlan, were justly praised by delegates at its conclusion.