Rosicrucian Park is the headquarters of the English Grand Lodge for the Americas of the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, located in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

History

The Rosicrucian Park was established in 1927 by

Harvey Spencer Lewis Harvey Spencer Lewis F.R.C., S:::I:::I:::, 33° 66° 95°, PhD (November 25, 1883 – August 2, 1939), a noted Rosicrucian author, occultist, and mystic, was the founder in the US and the first Imperator of the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosa ...

. It grew from one single lot to a 5-acre city block. The

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum (REM) is devoted to ancient Egypt, located at Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States. It was founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC). The Rosi ...

was built in 1932, the Planetarium in 1936, the research library opened in June 1939. The Akhenaton Shrine was built in 1949. The Peace Garden was added to the park in 2004 and dedicated by

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...

Imperator The Latin word ''imperator'' derives from the stem of the verb la, imperare, label=none, meaning 'to order, to command'. It was originally employed as a title roughly equivalent to ''commander'' under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part o ...

Christian Bernard Christian Bernard (born 30 November 1951), F.R.C., is a former Imperator of AMORC, a mystical Rosicrucian order. He became Imperator on 12 April 1990. On October 3, 2018, Bernard announced his resignation as Imperator, and the election of Claudi ...

. In 2013, a new Alchemy Museum was announced for 2020. The opening ceremony for the preliminary exhibit in the Lecture Gallery of the

occurred during the Summer solstice of June 2015. The new museum in the former Rose-Croix University International building will include a working alchemy laboratory. The Alchemy garden in front of the new museum is composed of four elemental gardens representing the four elements. From 2009 to 2015, the Park reduced its water consumption by 4.5 million gallons.

Description

The park takes up nearly an entire city block and includes the

, the administration building for the Order, the Rosicrucian Planetarium, the Rosicrucian Peace Garden, the Rosicrucian Research Library, the Grand Temple, and a central fountain plaza and gardens. A

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

garden is incorporated in the Park next to the Research Library. A

dawn redwood ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus ''Metasequoia'', one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now ...

grows outside of the Rosicrucian Research Library as a memorial to H. Spencer Lewis. It was planted in 1950 from a seedling from the lot brought from China by Dr.

Ralph Chaney Ralph Works Chaney (August 24, 1890 – March 3, 1971) was an American paleobotanist. Early life Chaney was born on August 24, 1890 in Brainerd, Illinois. He attended Hyde Park Academy High School, and began to cultivate his interest in ornith ...

, and donated by an unnamed donor to H. Spencer Lewis's widow for this purpose. The park also includes the Akhenaten Shrine (named for the 18th dynasty Pharaoh

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth D ...

), which contains the ashes of AMORC founder

and other former officials of the order. With the exception of the planetarium, all buildings in Rosicrucian Park were constructed with exteriors inspired by the Ancient Egyptian architectural tradition. In tribute to their claimed Egyptian heritage,

cyperus papyrus ''Cyperus papyrus'', better known by the common names papyrus, papyrus sedge, paper reed, Indian matting plant, or Nile grass, is a species of aquatic flowering plant belonging to the sedge family Cyperaceae. It is a tender herbaceous perenn ...

plants are also incorporated into the landscaping.

Gallery

Photographs of various buildings and statuary within the block comprising Rosicrucian Park. Image:Rosicrucian Park tree side.jpg, Tree side Image:Rosicrucian Park pillar.jpg, Park pillar Image:Rosicrucian Park - statues.jpg, Statues Image:Rosicrucian Park.jpg, View on the park Image:Rosicrucian Park walkway.jpg, Walkway Image:Rosicrucian Park statue distance.jpg, Statues Image:Rosicrucian Park flower.jpg, Park flower Image:Rosiuni.jpg, University building

References

External links

Official website
{{San Jose and Silicon Valley attractions Rosicrucianism Museum districts Parks in San Jose, California