ALPINA

refers to the Grand Lodge of Switzerland. A Lodge was organized at Geneva in 1736, the Worshipful Master, a Scotchman, being the following year appointed a Provincial Grand Master by the Grand Lodge of England. This Lodge was forbidden by the Government to initiate native citizens. Notwithstanding this handicap, the Institution thrived. Nine Lodges met in Convention on June 1, 1769, and on June 24 of that year they formed the Independent Grand Lodge of Geneva. ,another Lodge, named Espérance, meaning Hope, was chartered at Berne by the Grand Orient of France on September 14, 1802.

This became a Provincial Grand Lodge under an English Warrant in 1815. The Helvetic Grand Orient was formed in 1810. Several of the Lodges working under these two organizations founded the National Grand Lodge of Switzerland. There were also some other Lodges using the ritual of the Rectified Rite under the control of a Grand Directorate. This lack of unity led to various efforts at organized cooperation and several General Assemblies of Freemasons in Switzerland were held at Zurich, Bern and Basle in 1836 and for some years later. The union so long patiently sought was perfected at a Convention held at Zurich, July 22 to 24, 1844, when fourteen Lodges agreed to a Constitution and organized the Grand Lodge Alpina, the name being a happy allusion to the Alps, a picturesque mountain range.