The Freemason's Grave is a grave monument on a grassy knoll northwest of the Kaisaniemi Botanical Gardens in Helsinki, Finland. [1] [2] It commemorates Fredrik Granatenhjelm, a notable artillery officer from the Suomenlinna fortress, who later moved to the mainland Helsinki proper, gaining great repute as a philanthropist.
A Swedish Royal Knight; a veteran of the Seven Years' War and the War of the Caps, Fredrik Granatenhjelm (May 1, 1708 – December 13, 1784), is buried in the grave. Despite the monument's name, possibly derived from its square and compasses decorations, it is not known whether Granatenhjelm himself was a member of the Freemasons. Some historians have been led to assume it, perhaps out of weight from the popular designation of the monument. It is known for certain that he was posthumously made an honorary member of the quasi-masonic Walhalla-orden.[ citation needed ]
The spot was chosen as it was the location where the officer habitually rested on his daily constitutionals, then within Edboms decorative garden, and where he had expressed a wish to be buried. The Walhalla-orden took these wishes to King Gustaf III and gained permission to bury him outside church grounds, when he was examining the troops at Parola, during his visit to Finland. The order's members were also the ones who carried his casket into the ground.
The grave monument is exceptional within the city in that it is not within a church yard. At the site of Helsinki's first church, the gravestone of a single tradesman is all that has been retained to designate the spot, but Freemason's Grave differs in that it was intended to be a solitary grave from the start. Another similar case is the urn of poet Katri Vala which is set at a spot adjacent to her eponymous park in the Sörnäinen neighbourhood.
Originally a statue was planned for the site, but when that plan failed, Lars Jägerhorm was able to get a commemorative stone and guardrails around it. The masonic symbols of that guardrail that have led to the popular designation of the monument as a "Freemason's grave". The unbeaten stone face bears the freehand style inscription: "Lika godt om verlden vet hvem här hvilar alt nog Gud käner hvad Han gjort och Uslingen välsignar HANS minne." ("As little as the world cares who lies here, God will nevertheless know his deeds and the wretched bless HIS memory.")
An evergreen conifer is planted next to the stone, and an ironwork guardrail with masonic square and compass are featured within the rails; this decoration and the inscription on the stone is kept painted with gold. The emblems of field artillery, incendiary grenades, are set as knobs to top the posts at the corners of the ironworks; palpably also a play of words on his family name "Granatenhjelm".
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 and clients. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups: Regular Freemasonry, which insists that a volume of scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics not take place within the lodge; and Continental Freemasonry, which consists of the jurisdictions that have removed some, or all, of these restrictions.
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on it, along with a personal message, or prayer, but may contain pieces of funerary art, especially details in stone relief. In many parts of Europe, insetting a photograph of the deceased in a frame is very common.
The Swedish Rite is a variation or Rite of Freemasonry that is common in Scandinavian countries and to a limited extent in Germany. It is different from other branches of Freemasonry in that, rather than having the three self-contained foundation degrees and seemingly-endless side degrees and appendant bodies, it has an integrated system with ten degrees. It is also different in that, rather than moving through the offices or 'chairs', progress in the Swedish Rite is based on moving through the ten degrees. A fundamental difference is the Swedish Rite's position on religious affiliation: Anglo/American 'Regular' Masonry requires a belief in any theistic religion and Continental 'Liberal' Masonry does not require belief in any religion, whereas Swedish Masonry is specifically Christian, and requires a Christian trinitarian belief in all its members. Nonetheless, the main Swedish Rite constitutions are all recognised as regular by the United Grand Lodge of England, and stand in full amity.
A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations.
The Alloway Auld Kirk, which dates back to the 16th Century, is a ruin in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland, celebrated as the scene of the witches' dance in the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Robert Burns.
Freemasonry in Sweden was introduced by the Swedish Order of Freemasons, founded in 1735 as the oldest still active Swedish fraternal order, working the Swedish Rite of Freemasonry. It is under royal patronage of the King of Sweden and closely associated with the Lutheran Church of Sweden. It is a jurisdiction that admits Christian men only, and is recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England as a Regular Masonic jurisdiction, being the only Regular Grand Lodge that admits a 34th informal Masonic Degree. Its total membership is about 16,500.
The gravestone of Thomas Brierley in Mellor, Greater Manchester, is one of the few in the United Kingdom known to incorporate masonic pigpen cypher in its inscription.
Johan (Jan) Anders Jägerhorn af Spurila (1752-1825) was a Finnish nobleman born on 8 April 1757 in Helsinki county, at that time a part of Sweden. He was the eldest son of lieutenant colonel Fredrik Anders Jägerhorn and Ulrika Sofia Brunow. Colonel Fredrik Adolf Jägerhorn, vice commander of the Sveaborg fortress in 1808 was Johan Anders' brother.
Carl Eneas Sjöstrand was a Swedish sculptor who worked for over 40 years in the Grand Duchy of Finland.
Kaisaniemi park is a popular park, in the center of Helsinki, in the region of Kluuvi. The Kaisaniemi Park was named after Catharina "Cajsa" Wahllund. Part of the park was given to the University of Helsinki in 1829, for gardening. The oldest greenhouse was opened in 1889.
Masonic ritual is the scripted words and actions that are spoken or performed during the degree work in a Masonic lodge. Masonic symbolism is that which is used to illustrate the principles which Freemasonry espouses. Masonic ritual has appeared in a number of contexts within literature including in "The Man Who Would Be King", by Rudyard Kipling, and War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.
Samtavro Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox Christian monastery complex that combines Samtavro Transfiguration Church and Nunnery of St. Nino in Mtskheta, Georgia. Built presumably in the 4th century by the King Mirian III, and reconstructed in the 11th century by the King George I and Catholicos-Patriarch Melchizedek I, Samtavro is an important Early and High Medieval historical and architectural monument, and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994 along other historical monuments in Mtskheta. Samtavro church is cross-in-square temple, with arches and other decorations typical for the 11th century Georgian architecture. The graves of Mirian III and the famous Georgian Saint monk Gabriel are located in the yard of Samtavro Church.
The Old Calton Burial Ground is a cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. It located at Calton Hill to the north-east of the city centre. The burial ground was opened in 1718, and is the resting place of several notable Scots, including philosopher David Hume, scientist John Playfair, rival publishers William Blackwood and Archibald Constable, and clergyman Dr Robert Candlish. It is also the site of the Political Martyrs' Monument, an obelisk erected to the memory of a number of political reformers, and Scotland's American Civil War Memorial.
St. Olaf's Church, also known as Ulvila Church, is a church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Ulvila, Finland. The church is considered one of the best-preserved medieval fieldstone churches in Finland and is the only remaining structure from the medieval town of Ulvila. St. Olaf has been the patron saint of the church since before 1429.
Isosaari is an island in Helsinki, part of the Ulkosaaret district of the city, more specifically of Itäsaaret, i.e. ‘eastern islands’. It was one of the fortified islands of the Gulf of Finland. Isosaari is one of the outermost islands in the Helsinki region, and it is a site that is important from the perspective of cultural history. Its sights and its nature are unique.
Hatanpää Manor was a manor in the area of the current city of Tampere on the shores of Lake Pyhäjärvi in Pirkanmaa, Finland. It was founded in the 1690s, but the current main building of Hatanpää Manor, designed by architect Sebastian Gripenberg, was completed in 1885. The manor has preserved the manor park on the Hatanpää's peninsula, as well as the main building and villa building built in the late 19th century. The former land areas of the manor are now residential and industrial areas.
Keisarinnankivi is a monument located at the Market Square in Kaartinkaupunki in central Helsinki, Finland. The monument, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, is the oldest public monument in Helsinki. It was revealed with celebrations on the name day of Nikolai on 18 December 1835 to commemorate the first visit to Helsinki by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Emperor of Russia Nicholas I. The monument was erected at the spot where the imperial couple stepped ashore from the steamship Ischora on arrival in Helsinki on 10 June 1833. The monument was funded by a national collection of funds and by a grant given by the Imperial Senate of Finland.
The Ehrensvärd grave is the final resting place and memorial of Augustin Ehrensvärd, the founder of the Suomenlinna island fortress in Helsinki, Finland, at the Linnanpiha yard on the island of Susisaari in Suomenlinna. Ehrensvärd was buried at the yard in 1783 but the memorial was only completed in its current form in 1805.
60°10′32″N24°56′39″E / 60.17556°N 24.94417°E
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