Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Institute of Art History
- Code
- MA-ERA-IAH-L-34
- Title
- The Arts and Freemasonry
- Usual semester
- Spring
- Published semester
- 2025/26/2
- ECTS
- 8
- Language
- en
- Description
- This course offers an historical exploration of the relationship between the arts and Freemasonry. Following general overview of the history, myths, and defining characteristics of the Masonic fraternity, the subject will be examined from two complementary perspectives: branches of art and thematic frameworks. The first section of the course focuses on specific branches of art, including architecture (Masonic temples, and architectural models), garden design, the fine arts (drawing, graphic art, painting, and sculpture), applied arts (Masonic material culture), and music. The second section explores broader cultural and intellectual themes such as Enlightenment thought, esotericism, religion, and conspiracy theories—examining how these themes are reflected in, and shaped by, artistic production associated with Freemasonry.
- Learning outcomes
- The course examines the rich visual and material culture of Freemasonry from an art historical perspective. After the introductory lesson presenting the history and main characteristics of the fraternity, we approach the topic from two complementary points of view: objects and themes. Object-focused classes explore the core myths and symbols of Freemasonry through the study of Freemasonry's material culture. Students will learn about the lodge and its furnishings (for example, the altar, hammer and pillars), masonic insignia and articles of clothing (for example, aprons, gloves and jewelry) and their iconographic significance and function, as well as masonic churches and their architectural features, lodge carpets used during ritual initiation ceremonies, other symbolic representations, with masonic diplomas and a range of masonic objects used outside the lodge. The thematic part of the course covers defining concepts of Masonic culture, such as brotherly love, charity, death and war, esotericism and occult traditions, anti-Masonic topos, and the appearance of Freemasonry in visual arts and music.
- Course content
- This course offers an historical exploration of the relationship between the arts and Freemasonry. Following general overview of the history, myths, and defining characteristics of the Masonic fraternity, the subject will be examined from two complementary perspectives: branches of art and thematic frameworks. The first section of the course focuses on specific branches of art, including architecture (Masonic temples, and architectural models), garden design, the fine arts (drawing, graphic art, painting, and sculpture), applied arts (Masonic material culture), and music. The second section explores broader cultural and intellectual themes such as Enlightenment thought, esotericism, religion, and conspiracy theories—examining how these themes are reflected in, and shaped by, artistic production associated with Freemasonry.
- Assessment method
- oral exam
- Bibliography
- Bogdan, Henrik and Jan A. M. Snoek (eds), Handbook of Freemasonry (Leiden: Brill, 2014) Curl, James Stevens, Freemasonry & the Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Influences (London: Historical Publications, 2011) Hamilton, John D., Material Culture of the American Freemasons (Lexington, MA: Museum of Our National Heritage, 1994) Wolf, Reva and Alisa Luxenberg, eds., Freemasonry and the Visual Arts from the Eighteenth Century Forward: Historical and Global Perspectives (New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019) * Required chapters will be specified in class.
- Recommended bibliography
- Le grand livre illustré du patrimoine maçonnique (Paris: le cherche midi, 2011) MacNulty, Kirk W., Freemasonry: Symbols, Secrets, Significance (London: Thames & Hudson, 2006) Önnerfors, Andreas, Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017)