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Frank Albo theorizes the building is a "beacon of the occult." While many scoff at the notion, over the past five years Albo collected evidence showing this was not your typical building. Unfortunately, he is not talking about some ancient pagan temple located in Greece, he is referring to the Manitoba legislature which is home to the government of Manitoba -- a province of Canada.
Albo, who has researched eastern religions, says he was driving by the Manitoba legislature in 2001, when he noticed two stone sphinxes perched on the roof. These were clearly Egyptian icons and he wondered why such symbols would be located on a building in the middle of Canada.
His interest peaked, Albo started a five year study of the building. The legislature was finished construction in 1920, 300% over budget. As he poked around the immense structure, he realized it honored a number of ancient deities incorporating many of the fundamental ideals of Freemasonry into its architecture. Not surprisingly, he discovered the chief designer of the building, Frank Simon, had been schooled in free masonry design techniques.
Freemasonry combines elements of the temple worship of many ancient eastern religions (particularly Egyptian) and Judaism in its traditions. Albo describes the legislature as "the Da Vinci code" in stone.
Albo, who is a research fellow at the University of Winnipeg, received a small grant from the government to further research his theories. He became a familiar figure at the legislature with tape in hand measuring all aspects of the massive structure.
On top of the legislature's dome is a 5.25 meter statute -- the infamous "Golden Boy." According to Albo, it is the Greek god Hermes, "the father of all occult sciences."
Other eastern gods highlighted in the legislature include images of "Medussa" -- a god who turned people into stone and Athena. There is also an icon with a winged hat suggesting it's a representation of the god mercury.
One large female statute called Lady Manitoba bears a striking resemblance to the Mesopotamia fertility goddess Ishtar.
The two large buffalo located on the front steps are reminiscent of the large bulls found at the entrance of many of the ancient eastern temples. These bulls were supposed to ward off evil.
He even found hieroglyphics carved on Sphinx statutes. When translated, they read: "to the firm and everlasting manifestation of the Sun-God Ra (do your work)."
Throughout the legislature Albo found repeated evidence of its Masonic architectural roots, many made famous by the book the Da Vinci Code. This included such things as:
- The use of the Golden Mean in construction -- the Golden Mean is a rectangular proportion consisting of 1 to 1.618034 ratio. It was considered the most pleasing dimension in construction and was a incorporated in many ancient temples.
- Using Freemason's cubit length of 14.4 inches, the reception area for the Governor General's office matched exactly the dimensions of Holy of Holies in Solomon's temple -- another common thread of Freemasonry. Albo even discovered a representation of the Ark of Covenant above the door to the Governor Generals Reception room. It is a carving consisting of a box guarded on either side by an Indian and British warrior -- similar to the Ark of the Covenant which had Cherubim on either side
- Other Freemasonry design features include the use of the repeating number sequence developed by Fibonacci, a 12th century mathematician. The sequence consists of a pattern of numbers where each number is the sum of the previous two numbers: i.e. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc). These number were considered a part of the ‘divine blueprint' and many such as 3 5, 8 and 13 were incorporated into the construction -- such as the 3 flights of stairs consisting of 13 step.
When asked why the architecture went to so much trouble incorporating this symbolism into the detail of the building, Albo believe it was done because the city of Winnipeg is essentially the centre point of the North American continent.
Because of this, Albo says it may have been constructed to serve as a talisman "to harness energy and ward off evil."
Source: A building of secret encoded clues, by Katherine Harding (Globe and Mail: February 18, 2005) / Masonic Interpretation of Manitoba Legislative Building by Frank Albo / The Back Page by Ian Chodifoff (http://www.canadianarchitect.com/)
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