VON TAVEL N°1

First of all, we would like to create enough space for our namesake:  

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PETER LUDWIG VON TAVEL

(1754-1848)

Tavel's brother was accepted into Freemasonry in Amsterdam as an officer in his father's regiment, who was in the Dutch service. In 1805 he became an affiliate of the "Zur Hoffnung" lodge, at that time professionally involved as a member of the City Council and the Republic of Bern.

During the development time of this construction hut, hardly a chair master influenced its history with as much success as this man of action. His spirit worked through and determined the work of the lodge through the years. A constant immersion in the royal art was not just a role model for him, but life itself. This also expresses his life goal: to become better every day through Masonic knowledge and thereby positively influence others. He equated the recovery of the soul with masonry freedom.

With the unusual power of his mind he penetrated all matters of the lodge inwards and outwards. He made decisions without prejudice and carried them out with that degree of energy that we only find in great people. His generous disposition did not prevent him from paying attention to even the smallest things. The clarity of his mind competed with the warmth of his heart, which had a beneficial effect on interpersonal encounters with his brothers. Last but not least, his contagious cheerfulness should have secured the sympathy of everyone.

When the "Zur Hoffnung" lodge had to leave its home in the Vannazhaus on Martini in 1806, Brother von Tavel once again showed himself to be the driving force behind the creation of a new temple. Of far greater importance, however, was his commitment to various reforms and as a man of unification, as his most important act led, among other things, the lodge from the "Grand Orient" to the Swiss national grand lodge - from French to English Freemasonry. That means: together with other lodges he founded the provincial grand lodge under English obedience, which later became independent as the national grand lodge. Unfortunately, he could no longer experience the unification of all Freemasonry in Switzerland, for which he had campaigned so much.

Brother Peter Ludwig von Tavel was a real pillar of the bridge who built a bridge to the Masonic world inside and outside the country.

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