St. Petersburg as a Symbol City

Abstract

The article proposes a version concerning the development of J.-B. Leblon's plan of St. Petersburg in 1717 as a symbol city expressing sacred ideas and symbols of "speculative Freemasonry" of the beginning of the XVIII century. The version is based on the assumption of membership in the Masoniclodges of both Leblond and Emperor Peter I himself. A brief history of the early "operational" Freemasonry, which developed in Europe since the X century and was a guild association of builders, which by the 16th century gave several directions of activity, is shown including "speculative Freemasonry" as a moral theory about the construction of an ideal human society. The version of the membership of Peter I in the Masoniclodge of the Scottish rite of St. Andrew the First-Called is supported by an analysis of the architectural preferences of Peter I, corresponding to the traditions of this lodge. A version of Leblon's activity in St. Petersburg is proposed in terms of his likely membership in that lodge. The town-planning embodiment in terms of St. Petersburg of Masonic symbolism and thelikely Masonic status of Peter the Great is shown.