La Fayette sword. The Musée de la Franc-Maçonnerie (French Museum of Freemasonry) is a museum of

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

located in the 9th arrondissement at 16, rue Cadet,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is open daily except Sundays and Mondays; an admission fee is charged. The closest métro station is

Cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

. The museum was established in 1889 by the

Grand Orient de France The Grand Orient de France (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonry, Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly ab ...

as a cabinet of curiosities in the Hotel Cadet. It was despoiled in the

German occupation of France during World War II The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

but reopened in 1973, and in 2000 became an official museum of France. In that same year, many of its historical documents were returned from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where they had been held by the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

after Germany's defeat in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Today, the museum presents the history of French Freemasonry through its symbols, grades, documents, and objects. It contains approximately 10,000 items displayed in permanent exhibit space (800 m²), about 23,000 volumes in its archives (400 m²), and a further 400 m² dedicated to temporary exhibits. Among the historically important items in its collection are

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

's masonic apron (1778), Lafayette's masonic sword, a first edition of James Anderson's ''Constitutions of the Free Masons'' (1723), satirical prints by William Hogarth (1697-1764),

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...

porcelain figurine (1740), etc.

References

Musée de la Franc-Maçonnerie

Paris.fr entry
* ''Musée du Grand Orient de France et de la Franc-Maçonnerie européenne'', Musée du Grand Orient de France, 95 pages, ca. 1985. {{DEFAULTSORT:Musee de la Franc-Maconnerie Museums in Paris Buildings and structures in the 9th arrondissement of Paris Masonic museums Freemasonry in France Museums established in 1889

See also

References