Some famous personalities in Swiss Freemasonry

Evidently, it is difficult to establish an exhaustive list of the most famous names in Swiss Freemasonry without betraying the understood discretion of belonging to the Order. However, as this discretion applies only to those who are still living, we may name some personalities who have left their mark, during their times, on the political and cultural lives of our country.

André Chedel
Born in 1915 and initiated into Freemasonry in 1954, this native of Le Locle, humanist and renowned philosopher well beyond our frontiers, received the honorary title of Doctor “honoris causa” from the University of Neuchâtel just a few years before his death in 1984.

Jonas Furrer (1805-1861)
Member of the Akazia Lodge at Winterthur, he was elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland in 1844, before he became, four years later, the first President of the Swiss Confederation.

Augusta Giacometti (1877-1947)
Swiss painter from the Grisons, initiated in 1919 at Zürich, he is known for his decorations in holy arts, his floral subjects and, from 1910, for his abstract works of the “tachist” type.

Pierre-Maurice Glayre (1743-1819)
Man of politics, diplomat, he was also private secretary to the King of Poland and the first president of the temporary Assembly in the country of Vaud.

Adrien Lachenal (1849-1918)
This solicitor and political man from Geneva, Federal Counsellor from 1892 to 1899, was elected President of the Swiss Confederation in 1896 and presided over the States Counsel from 1904 to 1918.

Antoine Louis John Ruchonnet,
Born on 28th April 1834, coming from Saint-Saphorin (VD), he was Master of the Liberty Lodge at Lausanne. Elected as Federal Counsellor representing the canton of Vaud on 3rd March 1881, he died on the 14th September 1893 still in office, after having been nominated twice for the presidency to the Swiss Confederation, in 1883 and in 1890.