Why is this flowery , gorgeous “ phantasmal machine ” so threatening that the Vatican want to blow it up ? raptus - seeker Erik Davis recently visited the mystical Damanhur temple beneath the Italian Alps to find out .
Davis write :
Over thirty age ago , a handful of initiates into a vivacious and esoteric Italian mystery schooling took up hand drills and picks and started to dig a hole into the side of a mountain in the foothills of the Alps . The property , an hr N of Turin in the Valchiusella valley , was call the Federation of Damanhur , and it is now one of the most complex , dynamic , and originative intentional communities on the planet . With over six hundred lasting resident , and hundreds of more “ citizen ” of various grades scattered around Italy and the earth , Damanhur possess an enviable range of tone business , workshops , schoolhouse , healing center , and quasi - independent collective homes , all machinate according to an innovative administration system notable for its realism and productiveness . Damanhur organizes conferences , restores knightly buildings , sell high - end cloth and foodstuff , and trades good and services among themselves using their own currency . But the community ’s on - the - land succeeder story pale in comparison to what that mess in a stack became .
Over the weeks and years , without much formal training , working at night and with music blaring to get across up the drills , a select work party of Damanhurians hollowed out a series of mighty chamber and passageway , all without other members of the community - to say nothing of the dandy world - clueing - in to their secret piece of work . With dour cultism and a startling degree of artwork , they transubstantiate these secret spaces into the Temples of Humankind : a singular otherworldly honeycomb of sacred mural , onyx mosaic , stained glass , carving , inlay marble , out of sight passageways , wanted metallic element , mirror gemstone , alchemical philosophers' stone , and - who knows?-maybe even the cosmic vigor electric circuit , intergalactic portal , and temporal wormholes that the multitude of Damanhur advise are the ultimate purpose of their sacred architecture .
Calling it one of the most amazing pieces of outsider art that he ’s ever witness , Davis take you into its glowing chambers – and the mind of the people who made it . take his whole essayat HiLobrow .
ByAlex Jarvis
outside tabernacle byMikki
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