Who are we?
CEDOM is the Study and Documentation Center of Belgian Freemasonry.
It consists of:
– A library with a reading room housing 11,000 books on Freemasonry.
– A collection of Masonic journals containing more than 25,000 articles.
– A historical archive dating back to the 18th century.
– A study center that publishes and organizes activities on the history of Freemasonry in Belgium.
CEDOM is open to everyone: Freemasons of all obediences, researchers, scientists, and anyone wishing to deepen their knowledge on the subject.
CEDOM is funded by the Grand Orient of Belgium and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
What is our mission?
CEDOM aims to remain the main reference point for the history of Freemasonry in Belgium.
This mission seeks to be achieved by:
– Establishing an updated collection of books and journals on Freemasonry as a library.
– Ensuring, as an archive, the location, centralization, professional preservation, and accessibility of Masonic archives.
– Communicating, as a study center, with both the Masonic community and the general public through publications and public activities.
What is our vision?
Freemasonry has played a significant role in the social, political, and cultural history of Belgium. This role should be studied in an objective, systematic, and scientific manner. CEDOM locates, gathers, preserves, and makes accessible all forms of documentation shedding light on the history of Freemasonry, especially in Belgium.
Belgian Freemasonry also deserves to have its heritage collected, preserved, explored, and valorized professionally. Its heritage is old and often invaluable, a value to which this community attaches great importance.
CEDOM also works for the community at large. It acts as a window. For Belgian Freemasonry, it is a window to the world, an instrument to establish ties with society. For society, it is a window to look from the outside in. CEDOM informs, educates, publishes, and exhibits with the aim of strengthening the ties between Belgian Freemasonry and the outside world.
Freemasons gather in ‘lodges’ (or ‘workshops’) that are in turn affiliated with obediences. All can rely on CEDOM to map and/or safeguard their archives and valuable book collections.
History
In 1968, within the Grand Orient of Belgium, CEDOM (Center for Studies and Masonic Documentation) was established. Initially, CEDOM was tasked with managing the archives and library of the Grand Orient of Belgium, and its operation was exclusively intended for the secretariat of the Grand Orient of Belgium and the members affiliated with that obedience. A library was also established for the benefit of the members.
Around the year 2000, CEDOM prepared to receive a substantial set of archives identified in 1992 in a depot in Moscow. These archives were a collection stolen from various Belgian workshops during World War II and transferred to Berlin by the German occupiers. In 1945, the Soviets took them and wished to return the archives after the fall of communism. All Belgian workshops that fell victim to this theft during the war agreed that the collection should remain indivisible and be best kept in a central location. Since June 19, 2002, the Moscow archives have rested at CEDOM, marking the beginning of the process of preserving and valorizing the collection.
The arrival of the “Moscow Archives” pushed CEDOM in a decisive direction. In January 2004, CEDOM became an independent non-profit organization. It is funded by the Grand Orient of Belgium and, since 2008, also receives structural funding from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. There is also a small contribution from the Women’s Grand Lodge of Belgium. Other obediences do not contribute directly to the costs of CEDOM, but the institution serves the entire Belgian Freemasonry and its archives.
The CEDOM collection is small and specialized. All books and archives in its collection relate to Freemasonry in Belgium and were deposited or donated by Masonic organizations or private individuals who are or were Freemasons. Currently, CEDOM manages 40 archive collections. Overall, CEDOM takes care of a book collection of 11,000 volumes and 252 linear meters of archives.