Olympic Torch, 1936 Olympics, Berlin, Germany

Freemasons, not surprisingly, are fascinated by the often hidden-in-plain-sight influence of Freemasonry on everyday culture.  Well, I just came across a very intriguing example that will have particular relevance as the world turns its attention to the upcoming 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games.

In case you missed it, the official Olympic flame was just lit on October 22 to kick off the torch relay that will culminate in Vancouver next year.  [Here's a cool interactive map showing where the torch is at any particular moment].  The torch, we’ve always been told, represents the light of the Olympic movement passing peacefully through the various participating countries.  While this is a laudable undertaking, the torch relay has an unfortunately sinister origin in the propaganda that surrounded the Nazi-hosted 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.  The Nazis invented the torch relay (it had never occurred previously in either the ancient or modern versions of the Olympics) as subtle symbol of the spread of Nazi Fascism throughout Europe.  [For more on the story of the Nazi torch relay, check out this interesting article].

Marathon Tower and Flame Chalice of the 1928 Olympic Games Stadium

But where did the Nazis get the idea of the Olympic flame?  As it turns out, the Olympic flame was another modern invention, this time originating with the 1928 Summer Olympics stadium in Amsterdam, Holland.  The Olympic flame burned in a huge chalice atop a tall tower adjacent to the stadium.   The result was an effect not unlike a giant candle overlooking the stadium, a symbol that will be familiar to all Freemasons.

Here’s where the intriguing Masonic connection comes in.  The designer of the stadium was the Dutch architect and active Freemason,  Brother Jan Wils (1891-1972) who was a member of the l’Union Frédérique Lodge in Rotterdam.

To be sure, it’s fair to say that candle-like tower is just a coincidence.  Brother Wils did not become a Freemason until 1929, at least a couple years after he would have completed his design for the stadium.

But according to Professor Bob Barney in the interview for the CTV article on the Nazi torch relay cited above, “Jan Wils, the architect of the Amsterdam stadium, was looking for inspiration . . . And so he turned to his lifelong infatuation with the Masonic order.”

Brother Jan Wils, Masonic Architect

Further, once Wils became a member, he was very involved with the design of Masonic Lodge halls.   For starters, he designed the lodge hall for the Silentium Lodge in Delft.  Also, he was on the board of directors of the Foundation for Rites and Temple Building, a group dedicated to bringing modern ideas of architecture into the realm of Masonic lodge halls.

This foundation promoted the notion that lodge halls should employ subtle references to Freemasonry in the underlying architecture through the use of spatial geometry — connecting lines that form stars within circles, etc. — rather than overt iconographic decorations.  And these subtle Masonic gestures can be found in both public and Masonic buildings designed by the architects associated with this group.  [More on Dutch Masonic architecture].

So, is the Olympic Flame a re-tooled Masonic Candle?  It’s hard to say for sure.  But the connections are, to say the least, quite striking.