The Temple of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
“There is a hidden world behind the one we all see” (465). The novel opens in the “colossal edifice at 1733 Sixteenth Street, NW … a replica of pre-Christian temple.” The initiate is being lead through a Masonic ritual in the magnificent Temple Room. Brown’s description of the architecture and furnishings is completely factual, from the sphinxes guarding the doors outside, to the perfectly square Temple Room with a thirty-three-foot-tall throne, and ancient alchemical, astronomical, Egyptian, and Hebraic symbols. The oculus in the ceiling looks down upon an altar of Belgian black marble, and upon that table the sacrifice of Mal’akh will, in a cruel parody of the sacrifice of Abraham, be re-enacted.
This building has remained strangely hidden from visitors to Washington, unless they were Freemasons. With the publication of the novel, it will surely attract newfound attention. But neither the building nor its insides have been kept deliberately secret. Quite the contrary. The Temple has always welcomed visitors and for those unable to come to Washington there is a stunning virtual tour on the Internet. The website offers insight into and colorful photographs of this treasure house of America’s Masonic heritage, from which most of the following information comes.
This Masonic Temple is the headquarters of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, also called the Supreme Council, 33 Degree, Southern Jurisdiction. The temple was designed by a non-Mason, John Russell Pope. Pope was also the architect who designed the Jefferson Memorial, the National Archives, and the main building of National Gallery of Art. The Temple was inspired by the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, called by Brown “the original mausoleum” (3). Freemason Elliott Woods, who helped design the House and Senate Office buildings, added Masonic touches to the Temple’s design. He had been appointed “Superintendent of the Capitol Building and Grounds” in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt, a Mason. In 1921 Woods was honored as “Architect of the Capitol.” The Temple cornerstone was laid on Oct. 18, 1911, and the building was completed in 1915.
The steps that lead to the bronze door rise in groups of three, five, seven, and nine. Two solid-block limestone sphinxes guard the entrance. The one on the right of the door (with its eyes half closed) is a symbol of Wisdom. The one on the left (with its eyes open and alert) is a symbol of Power. Over the tall, bronze doors, cut into the stone, is the statement, “Freemasonry Builds Its Temples in the Hearts of Men and Among Nations.” The name “House of the Temple” is traditionally associated with the word Heredom, the clue that leads Langdon here to save Peter Solomon. This is an important word in Freemasonry. It comes likely from the Greek words hieros-domos, meaning “Holy House,” that refers to the Temple of Solomon, so central to Masonic ritual and symbolism. The word is also found in French Rose Croix rituals, where it refers to a mythical mountain in Scotland, the legendary site of the first such Rosicrucian Chapter.
The Temple has 33 columns surrounding the building, and each is 33 feet high. The building’s address also contains the number 33. The highest degree in the Scottish Rite is the 33rd and the coat-of-arms of the Scottish Rite is prominently imprinted on the American edition dustcover of The Lost Symbol. The three-story building contains the first library open to the public in Washington. This library’s collection holds the first Masonic book printed in America by Benjamin Franklin and the Bible used at George Washington’s funeral.
The Temple Room furniture is made of Russian walnut, the floor is polished marble mosaic—tens of thousands hand-laid, tiny cubes. The windows serve as another symbol of the progressive search for more light. Crowning the center of the window is the Double Eagle, the symbol of the Rite. The Masonic search for the Light of Enlightenment is inscribed along the walls: “FROM THE OUTER DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE THROUGH THE SHADOWS OF OUR EARTH LIFE, WINDS THE BEAUTIFUL PATH OF INITIATION UNTO THE DIVINE LIGHT OF THE HOLY ALTAR.”
The House of Temple in Washington, D.C.
The skylight is a vast polygonal dome, the oculus; it is intended to be a symbol of the vault of heaven. The dome soars nearly 100 feet (is it 33 yards?) above the altar, flooding the Temple Room with light. The light of the helicopter will shine through and its vibrations send the glass of the skylight crashing down on Zachary, outstretched upon the altar in the center of the room that bears the Hebrew inscription from Genesis 1:3: “AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT: AND THERE WAS LIGHT.” The altar that holds a Bible and holy books of other religious traditions has inscribed around it: “FROM THE LIGHT OF THE DIVINE WORD THE LOGOS COMES THE WISDOM OF LIFE.” This, of course, is the ultimate message of the novel: the Lost Symbol is the Lost Word, the Divine Logos, inscribed in the Bible and other sacred writings.
THE SUPREME COUNCIL ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE, SOUTHERN JURISDICTION, U.S.A
www.scottishrite.org
A VIRTUAL TOUR
www.scottishrite.org/visitors/vtour.html
THE FREEMASONS IN WASHINGTON
www.usnews.com/listings/freemasonry-in-washington/1-house-of-the-temple
SEARCH FOR DAN BROWN’S ‘THE LOST SYMBOL’: CLUE NO. 3 NBC TODAY SHOW
allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/10/2062910.aspx