Freemasons' Grave

Freemasons' Grave, Finland, is a grave monument north west of the Kaisaniemi Botanical Gardens, on a grassy knoll. The grave stone was raised by lieutenant colonel Johan Anders Jägerhorn to commemorate a notable artillery officer from the Suomenlinna fortress, who later moved to the mainland Helsinki proper, gaining great repute as a philanthropist.

The actual spot was chosen as it was the location where he habitually rested on his daily constitutionals, and expressed a wish to be buried. The unhewn stone with a naturally plane face bears the freehand inscription: "Lika Godt om verlden vet hvem här vilar alt nog Gud käner hvad han gjort och uslingen välsningar hans minne" (As little as the world cares who lies here, God will nevertheless know his deeds and the wretched bless his memory.)

An evergreen conifer is planted next to the stone, and an ironwork guardrail with masonic square and compass within the rails; and the emblems of field artillery, incendiary grenades, are set as knobs at the end of the posts at the corners.

A Swedish Royal Knight, Frederik Granatenhjelm (May 1 1708 - 1784) lies buried there.Despite the popular designation of the monument and the square and compasses decorations, Granatenhjelm was not a member of the freemasons, though it is known he was appointed an honorary leadership title in the quasi-masonic Walhalla-orden.

In helsinki, the grave monument is exceptional in that it isn't within a church yard. At the site of Helsinki's first church, the gravestone of a single tradesman is all that has been retained to designate the spot, but Freemasons' Grave differs in that it was intended to be a solitary grave from the start.