Standing outside the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts on Knez Mihailova, Belgrade’s principal pedestrian street, is this small bronze pyramid which marks the centre of the city. It was installed in 1995 to accompany an Academy exhibition called The World of Measurement and functions as a monument to science rather than marking the entrance to an unexpectedly elaborate tomb. Its inscriptions record the geographical position of Belgrade, including its latitude and longitude, altitude and local gravitational acceleration. The letters around the base indicate the four points of the compass, which was helpful for anyone who had reached the centre of Belgrade but then got muddled up about which direction that they were pointing in.
The pyramid’s location and measurements are straightforward enough, but its shape has inevitably encouraged some gossip. It has frequently been described as a Masonic symbol, particularly because it resembles the unfinished pyramid depicted on the reverse of the American one dollar bill. Serbian Freemasonry organisations have themselves included it among purported Masonic landmarks in Belgrade, although there is no firm evidence that the monument was actually commissioned or designed by Freemasons. The official explanation remains that it was erected in connection with the scientific exhibition, which is precisely the sort of sensible explanation that conspiracy theorists would expect the Freemasons to provide.
I stopped to take several photographs, meaning that if it is part of a Masonic conspiracy, I have now documented it thoroughly enough to ensure that I shall never be invited to join. Despite all the speculation, it is sufficiently small that most people walk past without giving it much attention, which is perhaps exactly how a secret society would want things arranged. I’m not sure that I’d like the Freemasons anyway as they sound rather too decadent for me, unless they perhaps organise craft beer evenings.