Today, 15:26
Authors: Jeļena Vihrova (LSM.lv kultūras redaktore, korespondente (krievu valodā))
On 20 October, a Freemasonry museum opened on Baznīcas Street in Rīga. Its founder, Konstantīns Rubahins, spent ten years collecting documents, ritual objects and rare books in order to showcase the history of Freemasonry, whilst avoiding sensationalism and conspiracy theories, LSM's Russian-language service reports.
Freemasonry appeared in Latvia as early as the 18th century. As Rubahins explains, the first lodges were established here in the 1750s. Prominent figures of the Age of Enlightenment, such as Garlieb Merkel and Johann Gottfried Herder, are also linked to the history of Freemasonry in Latvia.
The museum holds a copy of a diploma from one of Latvia’s lodges. It depicts three crowned hearts and three swords. Rubahins presents this as evidence of a history that has long remained in the shadows.
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the Art Nouveau period, Freemasonry experienced a certain revival and restrictions were eased. However, by the end of the 1920s, restrictions on Freemasonry began once again. First, Freemasonry was banned during Kārlis Ulmanis’s authoritarian regime, and subsequently under German and Soviet occupation. Consequently, Freemasonry once again disappeared completely from the historical stage in Latvia and only returned in the early 1990s.
Today, a wide range of Masonic traditions is represented in Latvia, notes Rubahins.
“There are various so-called ‘obediences’, or Masonic associations. There is the Grand Lodge, which considers itself the principal body, and I think it has good reason to do so. This is Regular Freemasonry, recognised by England. Within this system, there are as many as 13 lodges in Latvia. There is also the so-called Grand Orient de France. In the 19th century, it broke away from the English tradition and began to develop its own branch. There are also lodges in Latvia belonging to this branch. Furthermore, there are various organisations of the highest degrees and other associations that are not even connected to Regular Freemasonry. That is why the spectrum is quite broad these days,” explains the museum’s founder.
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