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Inside the Hall of the Earth at the Damanhur Temples

The Damanhur Temples of Humankind

The Damanhur Temples of Humankind are a series of underground temples in the mountains or northwestern Italy. Because of their stunning beauty and enormous size, many have dubbed them the Eight Wonder of the World. They were built by Damanhur, a society that is dedicated to sustainable values and ethical living.

Construction began in August, 1978 by a small group of Damanhurians led by Oberto Airaudi. Equipped only with relatively simple tools, they worked intensely and secretly on this project. It had to be a secret because there were no laws or authorities to regulate underground structures. When the authorities eventually discovered the temples, it was clear that these magnificent structures are worth preserving. However, the Catholic Church strongly urged the authorities to destroy the temples, which led to a bitter legal battle. Thankfully, the temples were saved when the Italian government changed the laws in order to protect them.







Inside the Hall of Metals at the Damanhur Temples


This complex is almost as massive as it is beautiful. It has 9 different temples on 5 separate levels connected by miles of corridors and enclosing over 300,000 total cubic feet of space. The group of temples also function as a 3 dimensional storybook that narrates the spiritual journey of humanity. The complex of temples is clearly a work of genius on many levels. To begin, the quality and variety of the artwork is absolutely stunning. Also, the scale and design of the architecture is nothing short of impressive, especially when we consider that it tells a story. However, we could argue that the most impressive aspect is that a relatively small group of determined people had the vision to undertake a project of this scale and actually pull it off.



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