The Politics of Removal

Four-square

Unmitigated drivel about public art, architecture and monuments make up a large percentage of LoS posts. From time to time we've talked about the destruction of past monuments to reflect changing aesthetics, political ideologies, practical urban renewal, etc. The erasure of the past for political reasons was common enough in ancient Rome and Egypt, where sometimes an emperor or pharaoh would efface inscriptions on monuments in order to diminish the achievements of a rival or to sully the name of a predecessor.

A few days ago, the New Orleans City Council voted for an ordinance that will lead to the removal of four monuments in that city which honor Confederate heroes.  The Atlantic says:

This decision constitutes the most sweeping removal of Confederate iconography since the lowering of the Confederate battle flag in Columbia, South Carolina, this past summer, and offers the clearest evidence yet that the Lost Cause view of the Civil War has finally lost.

It is in the larger historical context that we view this news. New Orleans feels confident it can remove four big monuments and in no way be culturally diminished, a definitive sign of the changing of the guard.

Louisiana's governor even stepped into the fray and tried to block their removal, not because of the history they represent, but because they represent history.  In an interesting twist, however, the Governor isn't some disgruntled old white dude.  He's young, conservative and of Indian heritage -- Bobby Jindal.

I have no confusion over why people want these to come down. Hard to swallow walking past some tax-supported public art erected to glorify a man who fought a war to keep your people enslaved.

The removal is said to be temporary; the goal being to put them together in some kind of park or memorial where they can be re-contextualized. I always get a bit disconcerted by attempts to alter history, something Winston Smith-y about it, but if done correctly, I suppose the monuments can be preserved in a way that doesn't insult the large black population of the city.

One thing that stood out was that the monuments were brought down for being a "public nuisance." You'd think any nuisance would be a result of the actions of people, not inert marble and bronze. Also curious is that an anonymous donor is footing the bill; what are the donor's motives? Get rid of these things ASAP....or to protect them from destruction by attaching the condition that they'll foot the bill only if they are preserved?

Apparently there's a U.S. place names bureau that periodically changes official place names from time to time. This has included eliminating offensive racial epithets from creeks, mountains, towns, etc. Battle Creek, Oklahoma, for example, was known as Nigger Creek.  Until 1990!  The conundrum came up recently in France for a town called Mort aux Juifs: "Death to Jews" (residents voted to retain the name).  In Spain, Arabs can't be too happy in Matamoros: Kill Moors.  

I'm not against periodically updating place names to reflect changing attitudes, but I do wonder where removing monuments will stop.  (A question which sadly puts me in the company of some serious assholes; where it does stop will be debated for a long time to come, but taking Confederate symbols from state flags, for example, is a start about which I have no doubts whatsoever....)

A mental flash: as of 2016 the World Fantasy Award will no longer feature the likeness of H.P. Lovecraft because of his virulent racism; attitudes which even by the standards of his time were pretty harsh.  This pissed off Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, who said he returned his two WFAs and urged a boycott of future ceremonies.  Like Jindal, Joshi is Indian, demonstrating that this issue is not just black and white....

Nor do I oppose taking out the Confederate flag from state flags, which were only added in the 50's as a middle finger to Washington de-segregationists.  By removing these Confederate flags, it's not an attack on Southern heritage or Confederate dead, but an attack on Jim Crow. 

I don't have any strong feelings against removing these four monuments in New Orleans, despite the money and manpower expended on such endeavors.  But I'm uncomfortable with the destruction of historical monuments and buildings in general.  And I wonder....Jefferson and Washington owned slaves, so will they eventually become targets? Because that's a totally different scale altogether, as improbable as it is unfeasible.  It's like the debates in literature about Céline or Ezra Pound; do we refuse to acknowledge their place in the canon because they happened to be anti-Semites or fascist sympathizers?

I would propose that the answer doesn't lie in removing these monuments, but perhaps adding context, whether in the form of interpretive signs and markers, or some kind of counterbalance, a monument to show that there is the will to spend as much time and energy on honoring another person and ideology as there is on what's currently there.

This is all part and parcel of Art History.  And this subject certainly merits close attention.  I'd like to see a survey of what has been destroyed and removed instead of what's been created and installed.  Who and what we honor, and how, are living polemics.  The struggle over symbols is in this case also a struggle over urban space.  As something tangible it is easier to quantify, to actually do something on a monumental scale that will alter the city-scape.  One could call it the Politics of Removal. 

I've always wondered when they'll go after that Pike statue in DC.... (8/15: The mayor, more than half of the D.C. Council, and the D.C. attorney general have joined activists in calling for the removal of a statue of a Confederate general from federal land in Judiciary Square.)

Removing four statues seems appropriate if you're aiming to re-orient a map -- one for each cardinal direction.  The statues represent Gen. Robert E. Lee (1884), Pres. Jefferson Davis, Gen. Gustave Toutant Beauregard (also a Freemason) and the Crescent City White League (1891).  

Of the four, the last is quite shocking.   It doesn't honor a politician or general.  It commemorates a battle in which an army of about 5000 from the White League attempted to take over the state government in September 1874.  It was the culmination of series of violent events stemming from a disputed 1872 election, including the massacre of over 220 people, most of them black, at Colfax.  Somewhere around 30 people were killed at Coushatta.  Both of these places are between a three- or four-hour drive from New Orleans these days.

The White League was essentially an extra-legal paramilitary working on behalf of the Democratic Party to suppress the vote, harass carpetbaggers, intimidate blacks and above all regain control of the government.  Unlike the KKK, the White League worked openly, without disguises.  When the Democrats did regain control of the government a couple years later, the militants in the White League were re-absorbed into various state militias and the National Guard.  What was essentially a terrorist militia became redistributed throughout the existing legal state and national military.  The Klan was finally suppressed about this time under intense pressure from the Federal government.  But in many ways it didn't really matter; the Klan had already achieved its goals by putting Democrats in power throughout the South, where they would remain firmly ensconced until the Civil Rights Era.

 

In the 20's and 30's the Klan re-appeared; it was an entirely different organization, but it had taken to mass parades and rallies as much as night riding.  It was in this "2nd generation" that the Klan membership was historically at its highest, and perhaps most highly-influential.

This could account for why an inscription was added to the monument in 1932 stating that the Yankees "recognized white supremacy in the South" by withdrawing Federal troops after the violent exploits of the White League.  Note that the monument doesn't talk about recognizing "states' rights" or the "legitimate grievances of Southerners resulting from the punitive measures of Reconstruction" which is how defenders of the monument and the confederate flag frame the aftermath of the Civil War.  Nope, the monument celebrates Northern recognition of white supremacy.  No surprise that a city which is 60% black would vote to bring it down.

To call for the removal of this inscription is not being "politically correct".  This is not "college student crybaby safe space" stuff.  This is about repudiating a publicly-funded tribute to the openly white supremacist paramilitaries which took control of the government that established the laws defining blacks as second-class citizens for the next hundred years.

This flat-out racist monument graced New Orleans until 1989.  At that time, it was removed in order to do work on Canal Street.  City leaders probably hoped to mothball it, but some angry citizens kicked into gear and had it re-erected.  In 1993 it was moved to the spot where the battle actually took place, which had the side benefit of being somewhat out of the way, silenced to some degree.  The inscription added in 1932 was covered up and a more conciliatory inscription added. 

Where it goes now is anybody's guess.  Soon after the council's vote, various plaintiffs filed suit to block further removals: the Louisiana Landmarks Society, the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, the Monumental Task Committee Inc. and Beauregard Camp No. 130, a New Orleans chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Of course, what happens will not be determined by questions regarding what we honor and how, but by legalities regarding who owns the land where they are situated, the fact that two of the monuments are on the National Register of Historic Places, and various laws protecting historical monuments and veterans memorials.  Laws created, in other words, exactly for this kind of situation.

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Winners writing history:

US 3rd Army blowing up swastika at the zeppelin field in Nuremberg, 1945

Taliban blowing up the Buddhas of Bamiyan, 2001.

A "spontaneous event" stage-managed by a US Psyops team. Firdos Square, 2003

The Vandals of Toulouse

I started our last post about one week ago and only published it yesterday.  I hadn't intended to write so much about bricks but the details seemed to become relevant as I went along.  This is somewhat fortuitous because on Saturday I came across a church that grabbed my eye and, as it turns out, was designed by an architect who also created the first industrialized brickworks in Toulouse.

The Église St. Jean-Baptiste d'Ondes is the parish church of Ondes, the next village after our neighboring village of Grenade-sur-Garonne.  It's a small place but is home to a few interesting buildings, one of which is a "haunted mansion" style house that sustained severe fire damage a few years back.

What struck me about the church were two things, the Tetragrammaton in the pediment, a triangle in glory, and the obelisks flanking the facade.

We have traced the use of free-standing architectural elements to delineate the entrance to sacred space back to the Egyptian use of two obelisks at the front of their temples.  This was picked up by the Phoenicians, who used two pillars instead of obelisks.  According to legend, it was Hiram Abiff, Phoenician architect, who used them in his design for Solomon's Temple.  The tale of Hiram and his murder by three unworthy laborers is an important story in Masonic lore.  A Masonic Lodge is ostensibly based on descriptions of Solomon's temple and thus, has an entrance clearly demarcated by two pillars called Jachin and Boaz after their Biblical ancestors.  But we've talked about all this at great length before. (See labels: obelisk and/or pillars).

I was tooling about with a friend when we ran across the church; i's design, atypical of the region, caused us to speculate about the date.   The friend suggested 19th century and I agreed, placing it at about 1830 or even a bit earlier, maybe 1810.  I also wondered if I was mistaken in seeing obelisks these church towers.  This close-up show that the edges of the obelisk are bevelled somewhat, so in a sense they are octagonal.  What struck me was the decorative element at the corner, a scallop or flower-like ornament which almost certainly has a name; but my days of intensively memorizing the architectural orders and their elements have been over for more than 20 years and besides, I don't think we ever got around to this one.

Does anyone have any idea what this element is called?

As luck would have it I saw some movement in the library across the street.  It turns out a ladies' knitting circle was just wrapping up but the most outgoing of the ladies talked to me a bit.  Apparently the church is rarely opened and she didn't know when it was built.  But this was a library, and she had a book in hand, toot sweet.

She leafed through the fat, self-published tome and voila, there was a lot of information about the church.  It was designed by one August Virebent (1792-1857) and work began in 1839.  Kudos for me!  This is pretty much exactly contemporaneous with the peak of the career of Urban Vitry (1802-1863).  Vitry, who we've discussed on LoS in several posts, was city architect of Toulouse from 1830 to 1843.  He put more typical obelisks at the entrance to his Terre Cabade cemetery (approved 1832, opened 1840) and designed a massive obelisk to commemorate the Battle of Toulouse (1814), constructed between 1835 and 1839.

This book also mentioned that one of the Virebents had married a Vitry; Wikipedia reveals that August Virebent's father Jean-Pascal (1746-1831), was not only Vitry's predecessor as city architect (from 1782 to 1830) but also his uncle.  August Virebent and Urban Vitry were cousins.

Both were men of their times, using classical elements liberally in their work.  Virebent was known especially for his use of caryatids and other sculptural motifs on his facades.  The "obelisks" on St. Jean-Baptiste church remind me of Vitry's tomb, the only photo of which I have is unfortunately too cropped to truly grok the similarities.  But the following photo of the Vitry-Bezat (I'm not entirely certain of the second name) family mausoleum is instructive.

You'll notice that the corner elements on the mausoleum are almost identical to those on the church.  So we can see that Virebent's flourish was part of the standard vocabulary of the time--for Vitry and Virebent at least.  Though this isn't "proof" of anything, it does support my reading that these towers on the Église St. Jean-Baptiste are (or refer to) obelisks.

Photo by flikr user christine.petitjean: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tisstit/5182656924/

I was pleased to learn that Virebent and Vitry were family and shared an aesthetic, but in light of my last post about the bricks used in local architecture, it's a happy coincidence the the younger Virebent was also known for being a briquetier, or brick manufacturer.  He developed and registered a patent for the ingredients and process of manufacturing brick; so, Virebent contributed to the Toulousain aesthetic at the most fundamental level.  His process made it easier to create bricks of varying dimensions that were both easier to cut and allowed for mortar to set better.  He also invented a machine that produced a finer, more solid and compact clay to produce a red or white brick-making material that made it easier to create decorative elements and reliefs based on brick.  Virebent is credited with being the first to industrialize the production of both humble bricks and decorative elements based on brick.  Form followed invention and today we see a multitude of forms in brick that had previously required the use of the slower and more expensive  technique of cutting stone.

Virebent's brick works seems to have continued to operate into the 1960's and the machines and processes used in the terra cotta industry today aren't much different from those he developed.

The first mention of a church at Ondes dates to 1538; it was dedicated to Notre Dame de l’Annonciation.  In 1613, the Archbishop of Toulouse judged that it was too small and authorized a replacement.  By the 1830's the church was in such a state of disrepair that instead of renovating it, a new construction was ordered.  The materials were found locally and the ornaments all came from Virebent's brickworks.  All the labor was performed by locals, for free, except for the artisans such as masons and carpenters.  The church was largely finished by 1848, but work on the decoration continued until 1866, by which time Virebent and Vitry were dead.

As for the title of this post, Vitry and the elder Virebent are largely responsible for the look of downtown Toulouse as it appears today, with two large thoroughfares forming a cross at its center.  It was rational and practical but the work, along with other urbanization projects, indiscriminately destroyed many of the cloisters and medieval streets that until then had characterized the center of town.  This earned Toulouse the title "capital of vandalism".

One man's "development" is another man's destruction, something that holds true today.  Toulouse is being transformed at a rate unseen since the days Vitry and Virebent were razing a good chunk of downtown Toulouse, for better or for worse, and a lot of these new projects are still using those red and white bricks.  Vitry and Virebent (the elder) are pretty much synonymous with the Toulouse style, sober and retrained with a strong neo-classical flavor and occasional Egyptian touches.  There is no indication, however, that they were Freemasons, so we can chalk this up to the wider interest in Egypt which spurred the ongoing revival that both preceded and followed their careers.

A dreaded sunny day / So I meet you at the cemet'ry gates

Here's a little ditty for all you latter-day Egyptian Revivalists and cemetery groupies.... 

Back in 2009 I posted about the Egyptianized elements of the Terre Cabade cemetery (Toulouse), especially the pair of obelisks at the entrance.

Briefly put, these obelisks derive from Egyptian temple architecture and were adopted by the Phoenicians, who, if we are to believe Biblical accounts, applied them (as pillars) to the design of Solomon's Temple.  These pillars (Jachin and Boaz) were later incorporated into Freemasonic Lodge architecture (see I ♥ Phoenicia and Pillars of the Community).

The other day I happened to be skulking around the Saint-Simon neighborhood of Toulouse and saw that all of the pillars in the wall surrounding the parish cemetery are capped by regular pyramidions.  This is actually a rather widespread design, so I don't make too much of it....I'm not sure if it's a conscious case of "Egyptianizing" or not.

Saint-Simon:  Pillar with equilateral-sided square pyramidion. 1775?

I was walking away pondering that and saw a pair of pyramidion-capped pillars, and wondered if indeed, the builders weren't after all referencing the obelisk as entrance to a temenos, or sacred space.  I think this pair of pillars, whose pyramidions differ from the others, once marked an entrance.  Note that the walls to either side are made of brick and river stones (galets); in between, there is only brick.  I imagine it was once open and bricked up at a later date.  These obelisks are incredibly phallic, more so than most obelisks, the pyramidions strikingly glans-like.  This stylized form represents the penis, and the earth or cave which the tomb represents is likewise the womb.  Which is fitting for a cemetery, actually, as a symbol of resurrection.  Life from death, yadda yadda.

Saint-Simon:  Gateway with truncated square pyramidions.  1775?

The church dates from 1775, but there's no telling when the cemetery wall was actually built.

Just a few days later I passed through the town of Lévignac and saw a much more definite Egyptian reference.  Here we have something between an obelisk and a steep pyramid.  The left structure retains a cross, whereas the right cross (bam!) has tumbled down.

Entrance to Lévignac cemetery.  Date unknown.

Judging from the condition of the wall, I'd guess these are roughly contemporary with Terre Cabade (ca. 1840)  I'd be willing to guess within ten years or so of the latter.

Anyway, no earth-shattering revelations here; cemetery obelisks are ubiquitous in France, usually as monuments to the Great War, but this is only the second obelisk/pyramid gate design I've seen for a cemetery.

For a more thorough treatment, I encourage to follow the links to our previous posts.

Compare to:

Terre Cabade cemetery entrance, Toulouse. (1836)

Entrance to Passeio Público (not a cemetery), Rio de Janeiro. (1779-1783)

Order and Progress in the Dérive: Freemasonry and Positivism in the Urban Landscape of Rio de Janeiro

With such a distinguished history, it should come as no surprise that Freemasonry has left its mark on architecture and urban design.  For example, various sources have long ascribed the layout of Washington, D.C. to Masonic influence, and indeed, it has recently come to light that original designer Pierre l'Enfant had in fact obtained at the least the First Degree of the Craft (here).  Sandusky, Ohio, has a Square and Compasses integrated into its original street plan.  One square mile in an area known as "The Lodge" was incorporated as Apopka, Florida, so that its namesake Masonic Lodge became its center (Journey to the Center of the Earth).  But time and growth have obscured these Masonic origins.  

It's been awhile, but I'm finally reporting back from a recent trip to South America. For its large number of Masonically-inspired monuments, I figured Rio de Janeiro must be among the most visible Masonic urban landscapes in the world.  I was partly right.  What I hadn't counted on was the related but independent philosophical school of Positivism. Before considering this point, let's take a look a number of examples of potentially Masonic-influenced elements in Rio; we'll get back to the consideration of Positivism towards the end of this article.

When I kept seeing evocative monuments everywhere I went in Rio, I started keeping my eyes peeled like a child looking for Easter Eggs.  I have never seen so many obelisks in my life.  They are used as architectural elements, posts to delineate parking lots, fountains and as lone free-standing sentinels.  In addition to the obelisks, there are pyramids everywhere:  truncated, inverted, both right-side up and inverted together, in pairs....  Even if it weren't for the Illuminati-themed graffiti I saw around some these monuments, I couldn't merely write it off as confirmation bias.  I wasn't the only one grokking them, they are everywhere. 

Graffiti across the road from the Largo do Boticário

My Portuguese is poop and English info on some of these places is kind of scarce, so I hope readers with any information on these monuments will contact us or comment in order to clarify or expand upon the information we present herein.

This graffiti (right) was among the first things I photographed on my very first day in town.  It was to set the tone for next ten days, where on each excursion I came across either an obelisk or a pyramid.  It seems to mock the viewer, tongue stuck out and flashing heavy metal devil horns.  I'd been forewarned.

This Google Earth view shows the general distribution of obelisks and pyramids in Rio:

Most of these were glimpsed from the back of a motorcycle or through a bus window.  It was only later that I tracked them down to inspect them, making long ambling walks through town, stumbling across even more things by chance.  What follows is an account these dérive(s) through the streets of Rio.

This is the first set of pyramids I saw:

 

They are a striking pair of modest-sized but almost dangerous-looking pyramids made of granite.  They once served as the gateway into the Passeio Público.  Built 1779-1783, this is the oldest public park in Brazil.  The public park we take for granted is actually quite profound; the use of public space freely available to all is certainly a reflection of democratic ideals, although this one wasn't open to all the public until 1793.  Prior to that it had been reserved for the aristocracy.

The architect was Valentim da Fonseca e Silva (Master Valentim).  He planned it in the French formal tradition, originally a rough hexagon, like France itself; as you can see,  the paths within form first a pentagon, then a square. 

1862 drawing showing the Master Valentim's design of the Passeio Público.  Wikipedia.

The idea of the perfection of nature--order and progress--are implicit in a park, especially the French style.  No coincidence that the first public parks date to the Enlightenment.  When the park was re-designed in 1864 by a Frenchman in the English style--less symmetrical and more "natural"--the pyramids were retained.

The principle Masonic themes implicit in these pyramids lies in the fact they are free-standing markers of ingress.  They can thus be likened to Jachin and Boaz, which are elements of the Temple of Solomon.  This in turn derives from Phoenicia, and back to Egypt itself.  (see I ♥ Phoenicia and Pillars of the Community).

Does anyone know if Valentim was a Freemason?
 
Here is a rather poor image of a fountain, also designed by Master Valentim, topped by an obelisk with a cross, that sits in the center of the Praça General Osório in Ipanema:

The General lived from 1808-1879 and was a Freemason, according to the Lodge Fraternidade No.3 HIMN (Pelotas).  Perhaps this is the reason the obelisk was chosen.  In any event, its construction actually predates the General's birth, having been designed by Valentim in 1799 (source).

Master Valentim certainly liked pyramids and obelisks, having also designed the Chafariz da Pirâmide in the Praça XV (1779) (source).

Chafariz de Mestre Valentim or Chafariz da Pirâmide.  Photo by "Piutus".

The story doesn't end with Master Valentim. Here are 8 other related features I'd like to share.

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1. Here we see the obelisk used as an architectural adornment,on the building which houses the Sindicato dos corretores de seguros e capitalização do est.  That is to say the syndicate of insurance and capitalization brokers:

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2. This obelisk is apparently quite important, capping as it does Avenida Rio Branco (née Avenida Central), which was a massive engineering affair and a great source of pride for Cariocas.  During one clash between President Vargas and rebel gauchos, "the rebels hitched their horses to [it], claiming ownership of Rio's quintessential monument of the bourgeois republic." (Boldface added)  This was in 1930 (Culture Wars in Brazil):

 

The needle is 11.4 m and overall it's 28 m high.  Like Valentim's pyramids, it is made of locally-extracted granite and executed by one Eduardo de Sá. It was donated to the city by Januzzi & Brothers at the inauguration of the Avenue.  I don't know if either of these brothers were Freemasons.

A sign names President of the Republic Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves (a Freemason) and Transportation and Public Minister. Lauro Severiano Muller (also a Freemason) as those who commissioned the Avenue, completed between November 15, 1902 and November 15, 1906 (source).

 

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3. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian (1964-1976) is one of the most unusual cathedrals on the planet, an imposing pyramid that evokes some kind of spacecraft:

 

It was designed by Edgar Fonceca to replace a series of older cathedrals, the last of which had been dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  Incidentally, the Chafariz da Pirâmide also replaced a structured dedicated to this apparition of the Virgin.  Perhaps the "pyramid" is thus designed to evoke Mount Carmel?

I don't think this has anything to do with Freemasonry, but it is pretty damn cool, perhaps a tip of the hat to the recurrence of the pyramid in Master Velentim's designs.... 

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4. The Monument to Estácio de Sá.  I went into this in some detail in Masonic Republics? so I won't repeat myself here; it should be included in the list, just in case you think I'm overstating my case.  I would add that it seems to refer to the pyramids at the Passeio Público in its sharp verticality.  As I mentioned in my other post, the guide at the Sá monument claims the pyramid was chosen because Sá was a Freemason.  Whether the claim is true or not, it's important that he believes it to be true; it's association with the other pyramids, then, somewhat retroactively gives them a Masonic association as well.

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5. Finding information about the following monument has proven difficult, and it took me a few hours of walking around in flip-flops, hungover, to find it.  I don't know the artist or the date.  I think at this point we can safely say there are a lot of pyramids in Rio.  Perhaps I'm reading too much into these things, but, judging by the graffiti pictured below, a work over two meters high on the wall facing the left (as you face it) side of the pyramid, I'm not the only one wondering if Rio is not in some ways the enormous sculpture garden of Freemasons....

The honoree here is Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695), a rebel leader of great skill who led the Quilombo dos Palmares, a self-sustaining republic open to escaped slaves, free Africans, Indians, whites.  He resisted the Portuguese effectively for years.  The central settlement eventually succumbed to Portuguese artillery but Zumbi lived to fight on for two more years, until he was betrayed.  When captured he was beheaded on the spot.  Today he is an important figure for Afro-Brazilians.  This monument is placed in what was once a thriving Afro-Brazilian neighborhood until much of it was razed to make way for the massive Avenida Vargas built here.

Who commissioned this statue and who designed it?  Why a pyramid?  Did Freemasonry influence the design? 

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6. This hourglass configuration of pyramids is the Peace Monument, dedicated to the city of Rio by the Bahá'í Faith after the Earth Summit in 1992.

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion religion emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind.  Three core principles establish a basis for Bahá'í teachings and doctrine: the unity of God, that there is only one God who is the source of all creation; the unity of religion, that all major religions have the same spiritual source and come from the same God; and the unity of humankind, that all humans have been created equal, and that diversity of race and culture are seen as worthy of appreciation and acceptance.

This sounds a lot to me like the spiritual principles of Freemasonry.  Indeed, Bahá'í has come under attack in Iran for, among other reason, having direct ties to the Craft. 

As Freemasonry was a secretive society originating from the West, many in Iran connected the movement with the introduction of foreign ideas into the country in order to undermine Iranian values.  Claims were made that many of the earliest Freemason lodges, such as Malkom Khan's faramush-khanih, which were founded in 1858, were linked to European lodges.  However, Freemasonry was brought to Iran by Iranians who had seen the movement in other parts of the world.

Furthermore:

The teachings of the Baha'i Faith expressly forbid membership in secret societies. Shoghi Effendi, the guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, asked all Bahá'ís to remove their memberships from all secret societies, including the Freemasons, so that they can serve the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith without compromising their independence.

Source. 

The Peace Monument, "a five-meter high concrete and ceramic monument was designed by, and built under the supervision of, the renowned Brazilian artist and sculptor, Siron Franco....His design combines two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other, creating an hourglass shape intended to symbolize the fact that time is running out for humanity unless it unites in a new spirit of global cooperation."

During the inauguration ceremony, a line of children dressed in the costumes of many countries passed from hand to hand the soil of 42 nations for deposit into the monument, which is hollow.

Many of the soil samples have been taken from sacred or historic sites. Soil from Iceland, for example, was taken from that country's most sacred and historic spot...

Etched in four languages on the four sides of the upper pyramid are words written by Bahá'u'lláh more than a century ago: "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." The quotation is displayed in English, Portuguese, Chinese and Terena, an indigenous language of Brazil. On the lower half of the structure the words "world peace" have been engraved in more than 35 languages. A glass strip at the monument's midpoint displays multi-colored soils taken from the contributing nations.

This is the kind of sentiment that gives so many people nightmares.  An impending One World Government or New World Order is the bugbear of any number of political and religious persuasions.  Any group with an overtly ecumenical message such as Freemasonry, Scouting (Rio incidentally not only has a monument to Scouting but to its founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell) or Unitarians are often lumped together and charged with having a hand in bringing about this New World Order, often believed to have been foretold in the Book of Revelations and directed by the hand of Lucifer himself.  That Masonic luminaries such as Albert Pike spoke glowingly about the Morning Star, or Venus, aka Lucifer, doesn't help.  That the obverse of the US one dollar bill features an unfinished pyramid of thirteen layers with a banner which reads Novus Ordo Seclorum ("New Order of the Ages"), also adds fuel to the fire.

The charges leveled against Freemasonry do in fact have some merit, if you believe in the exclusivity of your brand of faith.  The Craft does espouse ecumenicism and the Brotherhood of Man.  Personally, I don't think any of these groups are "all in on it together", but they are clearly working towards many of the same goals; it is interesting that they chose the pyramid in a city with its fair share of them already, many of which, as we have seen, have Masonic connections.

Which is also something which can be said about the obelisks of Rio, including our next mysterious fellow...

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7. The Praça do Expedicinario:

This seems to be an administrative area, with a variety of police and military museums and facilities, hence the Plaza of the Expeditionary.  It is currently very run down and under renovation, or at least barricaded.  The obelisk itself is covered with graffiti.

According to this blog (in Portuguese), this plaza is considered the birthplace of Rio, as it was the site of the first European occupation of the area, Morro Castle.  The first "town hall" was located here, as was the governor's mansion, warehouses, a Jesuit church and the city's first cathedral, dedicated to Saint Sebastian.  The remains of Estácio de Sá, the soldier who founded the city, were also interred here.

The obelisk is a monument to the Baron of Rio Branco.  A little back story.  The Baron's father was José Maria da Silva Paranhos, the Viscount of Rio Branco (1819-1880).  The elder Paranhos was the Grande Master of  Grande Oriente do Brasil  in 1872 when the Bishop of Olinda expelled all Freemasons from lay brotherhoods.  The Viscount had been a Freemason since at least 1840.  Up until then, Brazilian Masonry did not appear to have the same adversarial relationship with the Church as the Continental Orients, but for various reasons, things came to a head and provoked a political crisis.

According to Wikipedia:

The government came down on the side of the Freemasons and against the church, ordering Dom Vital to rescind the interdict, which he refused. This refusal led to the bishops being tried before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Empire where in 1874 they were convicted and sentenced to four years of hard labor which was commuted to imprisonment without hard labour. Rio Branco explained in a letter written in August 1873 that he believed the government "could not compromise in the affair" since "it involved principles essential to the social order and to national sovereignty". These actions aligned with his own views, but his convictions were bolstered by the Emperor's identical conclusions. Pedro II regarded Rio Branco as his favorite politician and a second-in-command on whom he could rely. The Emperor played a decisive role by unequivocally backing the government's actions in moving against the bishops. The lack of independence shown by Rio Branco in relation to Pedro II was strongly criticized by historian Roderick J. Barman, who believed that the Prime Minister only enforced policies that did not displease the Emperor or which had his full support. The trial and imprisonment of the two bishops was very unpopular....

Pedro seems to have been an enlightened and simple man who resented the imperial burden which had been placed upon him.  When slavery was abolished, he received the news while on his sickbed, teary eyed and exclaiming "Great people! Great people!"  Although Republicanism never flourished during his reign, Positivism became widespread among junior officers in the military.  When they eventually staged a coup d'état, he apparently seemed unconcerned and did nothing to squash it and quietly accepted exile to Europe.  After his death he was widely praised as an exemplar of Republican ideas.  One curious conflict that occurred during his reign was a uprising against the imposition of the metric system, called "Smash the Kilos" (1874), which many suspected of being condoned by priests....

Today it might be hard to imagine what a ruckus the metric system caused, but one must imagine that it in fact was an extension of Enlightenment and thus Republican ideals being extended into the very fabric not only of daily life and commerce, but in a human being's perception of the world.  Even today, ultra-conservative Catholics yearning for the days before Vatican II condemn the metric system as a technocratic affront to god and the natural, as opposed to rational, order.  One example is Michael A. Hoffman, certainly a fringe figure, whose Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare dedicates quite a bit of ink to railing against the metric system:

The contrast between the reign of number and the world of poetic serendipity, is analogous with the contrast between metric and traditional measure. Traditional measure (pounds, pecks, gallons, bushels, leagues, fathoms, furlongs etc.) represents measurement on a human scale, containing the quantities of serendipity and poetry, which constitute mankind’s defense against the empire of the machine. Modern measure, on the other hand, polices our world with the lifeless rigidity of the metric system, first imposed in 1795 by Freemasons.


Could Freemasonry be reflected in the use of obelisks?  Rio Branco's son, the Baron, is honored by an obelisk and he, like his father, was a prominent statesman and Freemason.  Recall if you will our first obelisk, which now sits at one end of the Avenida Rio Branco, just where it crosses Rua Master Valentim.

Perhaps we're not the only one to link the Rio Branco obelisk to the pyramids and Freemasonry.  The final graffito we will present today is scrawled on the sidewalk just before the Praça do Expedicinario....

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8. The last monument we'll take a look at is the Monumento aos Mortos da Segunda Guerra Mundial, dedicated to the war dead of the Second World War, especially those of the Brazil Expeditionary Force.  Interesting coincidence.  Also interesting is the plethora of pyramid forms that sit above a chapel holding their remains.  Just like the mausoleums to Artigas in Montevideo and de Sá, the underground crypts receive light from the surface.  The difference is that there isn't just one single pyramid in this composition, but several.  The monument was designed by Mark Netto Konder and Helio Ribas Marinh and completed in 1960. 

The first thing one notices from a distance is the pair of pillars, supporting a flat table-like slab of concrete.  To me, these two pillars recall Jachin and Boaz.  In fact, there are quite a few uses of free standing pillars in nearby architecture:  the Camara Municipal of Rio de Janeiro, on Avenida Rio Branco, the Memorial Municipal Getúlio Vargas (also underground), a pair of whimsical pillars on the Praça Italia and many more I cannot recall.

I decided not to elaborate upon these examples of pillars (unless they were obelisks, which is another matter) but I mention Jachin and Boaz here because of the metalwork which connects the two pillars.  Counting the squares, we find that there are 32 apertures.  I was sort of surprised but in some way wasn't at all, because as you can see in the next picture, the eternal flame honoring the unknown Brazilian soldier is....

....an inverted pyramid.

A look over to the other side of the above ground part of the monument, one sees another table-like slab sheltering three figures, representing the three branches of the Brazilian armed forces.  Be that as it may, already primed by the number 32, I could not help but recall the basic three degrees of Freemasonry, or even the Three Ruffians.  That said, I realize that this is more my own poetic invention than anything else.  This entire portion of the monument is supported by what appears to be an inverted pyramid.  What you cannot see so well in this photo is that this pyramid also incorporates a right side-up pyramid into its design, forming an out-of-proportion and three-dimensional visual corollary to the Masonic Square and Compasses.

A variation on this design can be found in the crypt, where the same pyramid/inverted pyramid design is used to support the above ground part of the monument.  I would imagine this to be a structural necessity to reinforce the load-bearing smaller tip of the inverted pyramid.  As a design choice a pyramid is logical as the Egyptian pyramids are probably the most famous tombs in the world and were already ancient in Jesus' day.  A funeral monument is supposed to preserve the memory of the dead.  Why not choose a design that has proven its functional and psychological staying power?

Everything is a pyramid on this monument.  Even the steel that carries the dedication inscription is a perfectly small pyramid of the tetrahedron variety.

Finally, in the small court which allow light into the underground crypt, there are 8 triangular plaques.  Sadly, I neglected to note what these plaques specifically honor.

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Phew!  What a "tour" de force of examples I found!  Now, let's get back to Positivism, as I promised in the intro.  I think there's a lot more to be said about the role of Freemasonry in Brazil's history, as well as its influence on Positivism.  Positivism had a big impact in Brazil, especially among the military, and it would be hard to study one without studying the other.  I'm not much of a philosopher, or I'd have a go at it; however, there already seems to be quite a bit on the subject available so I'd suggest pursuing it further online.  Still, a few words on the topic are in order.

Positivist themes have existed in Western thought since antiquity, but here we are concerned by the Positivism articulated by August Comte (1798-1857).   His Positivism "states that the only authentic knowledge is that which allows positive verification and assumes that there is valid knowledge only in scientific knowledge."

But science and reason were not enough, some kind of religious framework was required.  Comte formalized his Positivist system in the Religion of Humanity based on his belief that "there should also be a religion that would have power by virtue of moral force alone."  He even went as far as to propose a new calendar, as in the French Revolution, where the months were named after great thinkers.  Each day also had its own patron thinker, just as in the Catholic calendar each day has its saint.

His was a complete system of liturgy, sacraments and clergy; Humanity was venerated as the Nouveau Grand-Être Suprême (New Supreme Great Being), which evolved into a trinitarian system with the addition of  the Grand Fétish (the Earth) and the Grand Milieu (Cosmic Space).

Islam has five pillars, Positivism has three:

• altruism
• order
• progress

As I stated earlier, Positivism became quite popular among the military in Brazil during the reign of Pedro II.   In Brazil, this was formalized when philosophers Miguel Lemos and Raimundo Teixeira Mendes founded the Positivist Church of Brazil in 1881.  They were joined by Benjamin Constant.  Constant was a military officer and a Freemason, a leading figure in the 1889 coup d'état which ended the reign of Pedro II.  The 1891 constitution named him the "the founder of the Republic".

In 1897 the Positivist Church became the "Temple of Humanity".  The Temple exists to this day.

The Temple of Humanity is another legacy of the French Revolution.  In 1792 the most radical elements of the Revolution formalized revolutionary anti-clericalism in the Cult of Reason, an atheistic system to designed replace Christianity.  "The Cult of Reason was explicitly humanocentric. Its goal was the perfection of mankind through the attainment of Truth and Liberty, and its guiding principle to this goal was the exercise of the human faculty of Reason."

In 1794, Maximillien de Robespierre supplanted the Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being.  As its name suggests, it was not atheistic--and it was the atheism of the Cult of Reason which most disturbed Robespierre.  In his Cult, "reason is only a means to an end, and the singular end is virtue ... The primary principles of the Cult of the Supreme Being were a belief in the existence of a god and the immortality of the human soul."

These principles sum up the principle spiritual tenets of Freemasonry.  It was one of the last straws, however, for Robespierre, and his cult pretty much disappeared after his execution in 1794.  It was later officially banned by Napoleon.

But in a sense, the Cult of the Supreme Being did not entirely disappear.   It lives on in the Temple of Humanity, churches of which exist.  Brazil still has, after France, quite a few Positivist churches, one of which is in Rio de Janeiro; it is oriented, like a mosque towards Mecca or a Cathedral towards Rome, towards Paris.

Positivism's influence in Brazil is demonstrated on its flag.  The first flag was proposed by Rui Barboas, a Freemason, but it was rejected by provisional president Deodoro da Fonseca, military officer and Freemason.  Teixeira Mendes suggested the celestial globe and the Positivist motto.  His ideas were presented to Fonseca, who promptly accepted them. The flag was designed by a group formed by Mendes, Miguel Lemos, Manuel Pereira Reis and Décio Villares.  It was officially adopted on November 19, 1889.  None of these men were Freemasons, but they were all Positivists, except Reis.

27-star version of the flag adoped in 1889. Wikipedia.

The monuments we've studied here, however, are the visible sign of invisible currents; either flotsam or roadsigns depending on whom you think remains in power.  I think it's important to bear in mind that while I'm focusing on Masonic symbolism, quite a few of these monuments aren't linked to the craft in any other way save for their form.  The obelisk is not only a Masonic marker; St. Peter's Square boasts a genuine Egyptian obelisk and the Vatican is certainly the last place to go looking for Freemasons.

Brazil is pretty wild in its architecture, and if you go looking for pyramids in say, São Paulo and Brasilia, you'll find more than one example.  Likewise obelisks.  I know because I came across quite a few examples in those cities while looking into those in Rio.  I limited myself to Rio because there are so many to deal with already, but also because I actually saw these things with my own eyes.  This relates to my desire to process the things I've seen in my travels, to order my thoughts, and to give meaning to my experience.  Order and Progress, wot?

Please, if I've made any omissions or errors, don't hesitate to comment or contact me.  Rio's a big place, and I'm sure more is out there.  Let me repeat: I'm sure of it.  There's an enormous streetlamp in the form of an obelisk in a compass rose on yellow streets in the Praça Espanha in Ipanema, but I didn't actually see it. You can Google it though, and report back.

Happy hunting, and we can't wait to hear what you find.

Thanks to the Gid, who, as in times past, helped untangle the mess I made when I wrote myself into knots.  Gid also suggested breaking this post up into several "micro-posts" -- a suggestion I vetoed.  If this post is too long and unwieldy, then, the fault is all mine.  Likewise the content.