From Publishers Weekly
In this audacious, erudite study, Ovason (The Secrets of Nostradamus) sets out to prove that Washington, D.C., was designed and built largely by Masonic architectsAand that they imprinted the beliefs of their brotherhood on the city's layout. Benjamin Franklin, architect James Hoban (who designed the White House), Presidents Garfield and Polk and Statue of Liberty sculptor Frederic Bartholdi were all Masons. Indeed, when President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol building in 1793, he wore a Masonic apron adorned with occult Masonic symbols and an image of the zodiac. And although textbooks teach that the federal city was the brainchild of French engineer Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, Ovason argues that Washington, Jefferson, U.S. Surveyor General Andrew Ellicott and othersAmany of them MasonsAsubstantially modified L'Enfant's original blueprint. As a result, Masonic symbolism appears in the marble, plaster, concrete, glass and paint facades of the Federal Reserve, the Library of Congress and other landmarks. This book, the result of a decade of thought and research, establishes the plausibility of Ovason's theory. However, the volumeAa labyrinthine, illustrated tomeAalso contains a good deal of wild speculation. Ovason posits, for example, that the "earthly triangle" formed by Capitol/White House/Washington Monument mirrors a triangle of stars in the constellation Virgo, an astrological sign important to the Masons. This, he contends, proves that Masons secretly consecrated the nation's capital to the celestial Virgo. It's an interesting, if dubious, suggestionAbut Ovason never establishes the significance of the link between the capital and the occult. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Ovason, an astrology teacher, analyzes the symbols in the architecture of Washington, DC, and connects them to the influences of the arcane traditions of Masonry. This ambitious work looks at the Capitol, the Washington Monument, city planning, and the numerous zodiacs located throughout the city. A major theme is the importance of the Virgo sign of the zodiac and how it is reflected in the sculpture, design, and ceremony involved in the construction of the capital. In general, the work contains thorough research and brilliant analysis, but the reader may find that Ovason reads too much into some symbols, especially when locating ties to Virgo. A minor problem is the overuse of substantive endnotes, which displaces some important information that could have been incorporated into the text. Recommended for academic libraries with collections of architectural history, Masonic, or esoteric literature. By contrast, The United States Capitol is a collection of specialists' papers offering numerous points of view on a single building in the nation's capital. The first section, on architecture, traces the design and construction of the building from its beginnings in 1790 through the present Office of the Architect. Much emphasis is placed on the conflicts of personality and philosophy that have burdened the building's development. The second section, on painting and sculpture, focuses more on the objects than the artists, giving considerable attention to techniques and hidden meanings within the works. Altogether, the book is well researched and appropriately illustrated with photographs and architectural drawings. Recommended for both academic and larger public libraries.DEric Linderman, Ida Rupp P.L., Port Clinton, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
