Les Pyramides

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"A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single point at the top"[1]

A slew of pyramids can be found in all of Paul Otlet's drawers. Knowledge schemes and diagrams, drawings and drafts, designs, prototypes and architectural plans (including works by Le Corbusier and Maurice Heymans) employ the pyramid to provide structure, hierarchy, precise path and finally access to the world's synthesized knowledge. At specific temporal cross-sections, these plans were criticized for their proximity to occultism or monumentalism. Today their rich esoteric symbolism is still readily apparent and gives reason to search for possible spiritual or mystical underpinnings of the Mundaneum.


Paul Otlet (1926):

“Une immense pyramide est à construire. Au sommet y travaillent Penseurs, Sociologues et grands Artistes. Le sommet doit rejoindre la base où s’agitent les masses, mais la base aussi doit être disposée de manière qu’elle puisse rejoindre le sommet.”[2]
  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid
  2. Paul Otlet, L’Éducation et les Instituts du Palais Mondial (Mundaneum). Bruxelles: Union des Associations Internationales, 1926, p. 10. ("A great pyramid should be constructed. At the top are to be found Thinkers, Sociologists and great Artists. But the top must be joined to the base where the masses are found, and the bases must have control of a path to the top.")

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