The world’s largest underground temple, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. 850,000 m³ spread over five levels reaching a depth of 72 meters. And a network of chambers and corridors, decorated with mosaics, bas-reliefs, paintings, and stained glass windows in bright, vivid colors. There are seven main halls, each of which has a mystical name: the Hall of Water, the Hall of Earth, the Hall of Spheres, the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Metals, the Blue Temple, and the Labyrinth. But this epic construction is not the legacy of some arcane people with millennia-old culture….
The Damanhur Federation is a small self-governing community living in the Valchiusella Valley. Many compare it to the status of a cult, and those who have come out of it have described its typical aspects. But that is not what we want to talk about, but rather about its founder, Oberto Airaudi or Falco, as he prefers to be called. It was he who in 1977 began work on the construction of the temple, inspired by mystical visions he had as a child according to him belonging to a past life. So it was that, having identified suitable ground, he set to work armed with spades and picks with a small group of worshippers and began digging. In time volunteers arrived from all over the world to make that vision a reality. Whether or not it was something truly spiritual, the fact remains that they succeeded. And it is extraordinary for two reasons. The first is that the work was based on nothing more than the drafts of their leader, who was hardly an engineer, self-funded through small local businesses.
The second, is that for 16 years they managed to keep everything in total secrecy, without the outside world knowing anything about it. Especially the Italian government, which would have had something to say about an illegal construction of such proportions. Until in 1992 three policemen and a prosecutor showed up at the door exclaiming, "Show us the temples or we will blow everything up with dynamite." Unable to do anything else, the Damanhurians let them in. Upon entering the first temple, the four of them were literally dumbfounded: what they saw was a huge circular chamber 8 meters in diameter with a central column in which a man and a woman were carved, holding up a ceiling made of stained glass windows. And the amazement increased as they walked through the various rooms. The government decided to seize the temple, allowing its builders to complete the decorations, but not to continue further. Later the structure was condoned and the Damanhurians were granted permission to complete it. It was even called the eighth wonder of the world by the government itself. Perhaps one day it will really become one, and in a few centuries it will be remembered as the legacy of an ancient culture. Today we can definitely call it the strangest place in Italy, and undoubtedly unique in the world.
