Damanhur’s Hidden Temples: How a Spiritual Community Built a World Beneath the Italian Alps
The Temples of Humankind are a large hypogeal complex excavated by hand in the rock by members of the Federation of Damanhur, located in Vidracco, in the Valchiusella, Piedmont, approximately 50 kilometres north of Turin at the foot of the Alps. In 2001 the Guinness World Records certified it as the largest underground temple in the world.
The complex occupies a total volume of over 8,500 cubic metres across five underground levels, descending to a depth of 72 metres, the equivalent of a building of more than twenty storeys. The walls are decorated with frescoes, glass and stone mosaics, sculptures, wood and copper inlays, and embossed metalwork, all executed exclusively by community members.
Origins and construction
Excavation began clandestinely in August 1978 with hammers, picks, and chisels, with no mechanical equipment. A permission to excavate would not have been granted by the regional authorities, as Piedmont had no legislation regulating underground constructions of that scale; the secret was maintained for sixteen years. The complex grew progressively to encompass a series of galleries, rooms, and niches across multiple levels, all decorated and frescoed to form a structure dedicated to what the community defines as the “Divine within humanity.”
The temple was discovered in 1992. The Comunità Montana di Valchiusella issued an order for its demolition on the grounds that it had been built without the required planning authorisation. After four years of sequestration, the structure was saved when it was officially declared a collective work of art; it was subsequently entrusted to the community itself and later recognised as such by the Superintendence of Fine Arts. Construction has continued since regularisation and the project includes plans for further expansion.
The Federation of Damanhur
The Federation of Damanhur takes its name from the Egyptian city of Damanhur, which in antiquity housed a temple dedicated to the god Horus; the city’s name derives from the ancient Egyptian Timinhor, meaning “City of Horus.” Oberto Airaudi, known within the community by the name Falco Tarassaco, had founded the Centro Horus in Turin in 1975 with the aim of disseminating parapsychological disciplines and establishing a clinic using non-conventional therapeutic methods. From this initial project grew the idea of founding a community; land was acquired in Valchiusella at Baldissero Canavese, and construction of the settlement began on 7 February 1977. The community was formally constituted as a federation in 1979. By the end of the 1980s it numbered over 300 members organised across three main residential zones.
The community adopted its own internal currency, the “credito,” in 1981, used for internal exchanges alongside standard Italian currency. It subsequently developed its own school system, agricultural activities, and a range of artisanal and economic enterprises. By the 2000s it counted over 800 members and had shifted its self-description from “city-state” to a confederation of communities with elected administrative bodies, managing around 80 hectares of agricultural land and approximately forty working activities.
Airaudi served as spiritual guide throughout the community’s history, though in his later years he no longer held formal administrative roles. He was also active as a practitioner of pranic healing and as a painter, founding the technique he called “selfic painting.” In 2004 he was investigated by Italian authorities for tax evasion exceeding one million euros, a sum subsequently repaid. The community has also been subject to periodic inspections by the NAS (Carabinieri health protection unit) and the Guardia di Finanza, which documented cases of irregular employment and tax irregularities; former members have raised recurring accusations of exploitation, sectarianism, and psychological manipulation.
The community is structured around approximately twenty houses scattered across the Valchiusella, each housing an average of around twenty people, federated into the broader Federation of Damanhur.
The seven halls
The complex is articulated around seven principal halls, each dedicated to a symbolic element representing, in the community’s cosmology, an inner chamber of the human being. The Hall of Mirrors is dedicated to light, air, sky, and solar energy, and features a Tiffany glass dome through which natural-effect light is distributed across mirrored surfaces. The Hall of the Earth, at 30 metres depth, consists of two circular rooms arranged in the form of an infinity sign, symbolising the planet and the masculine principle. The Hall of Metals is a circular space dedicated to the ages and stages of human development, with eight stained-glass windows depicting faces accompanied by inscriptions in the Damanhurian Sacred Language. The Hall of Spheres contains nine spheres filled with alchemical liquids of different colours, positioned at the convergence of the community’s so-called synchronic lines. The Labyrinth houses representations of 35 divine figures from different cultures and traditions, from Allah to Manitou. The Blue Temple is the oldest section of the complex, excavated solely with hammers and chisels; its floor mosaic reproduces the Star card of the tarot. The Hall of the Water completes the sequence of main spaces.
If you would like more informations about it, please read the Daily Mail report by Hazel Courtney.
Source: Wikipedia (Italian) — Federazione di Damanhur and Tempio dell’Umanità
Picture: Alex Jarvis
Topic: Damanhur,spirituality,temple of humankind,largest underground temple,pidmont,sect,alternative tourism
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