Old French Masonic Temple

A rare example of a preserved 18th Century temple at the Chateau de Mongenan in Bordeaux, France. All the necessary elements are present including a MM apron.

It was owned by Louis XVI's last Foreign Minister Antoine-Claude Nicolas de Valdec de Lessart (1741-1792). From the midcentury temples were frequently set up in private aristocratic homes. This one is said to have been in use from as early as 1750 and is described as an "itinerant temple", that is it was designed to be taken up and down the furnishings include a painting of a starry sky which was erected when the scenery of the temple was put in place. The equipment and paraphernalia belonged either to Valdec de Lessart himself or to his mistress, the celebrated courtesan Madame Grand, who was member of a female lodge. Also displayed is the apron of the famous alchemist and Mason, Count Cagliostro, who visited Bordeaux between November 1783 and October 1784 as a guest of the Marquis de Canolle. The presence of two sarcophagi evoke Cagliostro's so-called Egyptian rite, which he tried without success to establish in Bordeaux.

The temple proper is preceded by a chamber of reflection where neophytes were isolated prior to initiation, and which is furnished with various symbolic objects: a mirror, salt, sulphur and a metal cock (symbolising the element mercury).