Workshop Rosslyn Chapel

Of the many mysteries and legends which envelop Rosslyn Chapel few can be so well known as that surrounding the ‘Apprentice’ Pillar.

The legend concerns the murdered apprentice with its overt references to the initiation rituals of ancient guilds of stonemasons which stretch back to the murder of Hiram Abif, the master mason, at the time of the building of ?King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Thus, the murder of the apprentice at Rosslyn is seen as a symbolic re-enactment of the murder of Hiram Abif ?which, today, has immense spiritual and emotional connotations for the world-wide fraternity of Freemasons. The story of the murdered apprentice runs as follows:

«The master mason having received from his patron the model of a pillar of exquisite workmanship and design, hesitated to carry it out until he had been to Rome or some such foreign part. and seen the original. He went abroad, and in his absence, an apprentice, having dreamed the finished pillar, at once set to work and carried out the design as it now stands, a perfect marvel of workmanship. The master mason on his return was so stung with envy that he asked who had dared to do it in his absence. On being told it was his own apprentice, he was so inflamed with rage and passion, that he struck him with his mallet, killed him on the spot, and paid the penalty for his rash and cruel act.»

Bro Jens Rusch is trying to paint this, dedicating the art of stonecutting and mysteries: