Apollo is one of the most important of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman mythology. He was the ideal of the athletic youth. Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis /or Diana/. Apollo was known under the name of Apollo Musagetes – The Leader of the Muses.

Apollo was known often keeping his lyre, which he received from Hermes.

Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. The story is told in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. His mother, Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep.

Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow’s intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre.

Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo’s claim. Zeus intervened and, claiming to have seen the events, sided with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange of the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo then became a master of the lyre.

In the history of the Freemasonry Apollo appeared on the frontispiece of the Masonic Constitution from 1723, engraved by our extraordinary talented Brother John Pine.

In Honor of our Beginning and all reach Symbolism, related to Apollo, we decided to choose Apollo for Symbolic Presentation and Patron of the World Festival of Masonic Arts.

The First Festival of Masonic Arts was hosted by Grand Orient of Brazil from 15^th to 20^th of September, 2015. It was organized under the personal patronage of MW Marcos Jose da Sylva, with the invaluable help of our Grand Ambassador Paolo Koo, Ambassadors Jose Arimateia Soares de Almeida, Jose Eduardo de Miranda, and thousands of Brazilian Brethren, supporting the Festival.

The Second Festival of Masonic Arts will be hold at The George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, USA from May 10^th to 13^th, 2018. Artists, Writers, Musicians, Actors from all around the World will meet and present at the Memorial the best from our Contemporary Symbolic and Masonic Art and Culture. The gates will be open to all Brethren and Friends of the Arts.