Breaking news, dear readers! Today the Museum of French Freemasonry reopened after a long and thorough renovation. And it looks amazing – all sleek brushed steel and pinpoint lights, as if Lex Luthor opened a museum of the history of evil scientists.
And as for the contents – it was like Christmas and my birthday rolled up into one perfectly-sized collection of assorted weirdass: gold embroidered ritual Masonic aprons worn by members of the Bonaparte family! Not-overly-skillfully-rendered paintings of 18th c. Masonic initiations (dudes in perukes playing with skulls)! Did I mention ritual aprons!!!
Plus… I think that I actually learned things. Yes, that’s right – all I was expecting was to gawk at the regalia of semi-secret, quasi-religious, basically-a-drinking-club Masonry – but, turns out that the museum does a good job laying out the social history of the organization: its introduction into France, various prosecutions, its political alignments, etc. Above all, my world changed a little with my realization that, in France, the Masons are on the left: they started out not a fan of the monarchy and lately were big backers of the legalization of abortion. Coming from my understanding of American Masonry (as an activity of your Republican grandfather), this was like hearing that Walt Disney founded the ACLU.
Worth a half-hour if you like conspiracy theories or the wackier side of the Enlightenment.
