CITY AS MASONIC PHILOSOPHICAL WORKSHOP (TO THE QUESTION OF «MASONIC URBANISTICS»)

Abstract

The article is devoted to Masonic construction symbolism and tto Masonic conception of the construction of «ideal cities» as a process of «improving nature and curbing Chaos». Masons cultivated symbolic language, drawing in symbols material for analogies, rituals, mysteries and philosophical generalizations. The art of architecture for Freemasons was so called «Masonic Urbanism», and it had become not only a tool for changing the world, but also a tool for knowing the world. They believed that the symbol has real ability to grow in the inner world of man, in the process of using it architecture shapes man, they believed that not man controls the symbol (which was embedded in architecture and urbanism), but the symbol conquers man. The philosophy of «Masonic urbanism» is considered on the example of the city of Odessa, which was planned and built as an «ideal city».