Part of the Casswiki article series Books
Les Demeures Philosophales (The Dwellings of the Philosophers) is a second and last known work by Fulcanelli, first published in French in Paris in 1929, with thirty-nine illustrations by Jean-Julien Champagne. This two-volume/500-plus-page treatise consisted of further information on classical architecture and alchemy from his first work, The Mystery of the Cathedrals.
Written in a cryptic and erudite manner, the author describes the features and history and meaning of various architectural details found in buildings of Alchemical significance. From this work, it appears that Fulcanelli cannot have inferred his expositions of alchemy from the art itself, rather he is using this art as a springboard for discussing a field of knowledge that he has been separately initiated to. Both this book and The Mystery of the Cathedrals give instructions (scattered in clues) to “truth seekers” on achieving the Work.
Laura Knight-Jadczyk discusses The Dwellings of the Philosophers and the subject of alchemy in her The Secret History of the World and in the Grail and Wave series.