EXCERPTS from the book, Damanhur: The Story of the Extraordinary Italian Artistic Community by Jeff Merrifield Click to buy the book

Building the Temples of Humankind

Digging a corridor into the mountain in the Temples of Humankind at Damanhur, Italy

"The first pickax hit the rock on a warm August night in 1978. Some three decades later, well over three million buckets of rock, earth, and clay have been taken out of the mountain, and il Tempio dell’Uomo, the Temples of Humankind, stand as testament to the heroic struggle of those who built them." p. 31

"They were to dig toward the heart of the Earth...and build a Temple such as had not been seen for thousands of years. It was to be made by hand, and by will, and in secret." p. 31

"The digging remained secret, of course, because the group had no planning permission. Not that it would ever have been granted. There were no regulations for digging into a mountain and building Temples, so any application for planning permit would have been turned down flat." p. 35

The Hall of Metals

Hall of Metals in the Temples of Humankind

"Cobra Alloro, who is in charge of the sculpting and terracotta workshop. Cobra first came to Damanhur when he was 21. He had been a railway clerk, but his first creative endeavors in the community were with wood. It was only when large columns were needed for the Open Temple, that he attempted clay work. So he found out about terracotta by acquiring the largest kiln available and making huge sections of 6-meter [about 20-foot] high columns. His favorite works are the ceiling pieces his workshop created for the Hall of Metals. Far from easy to make, they represented two years’ developmental work. For Cobra, this was not just an aesthetic project, but a human story of struggle, of conquest, of discovering how to collaborate with the other arts laboratories. Great friendships were developed during the work, powerful personal links established. It was as if the Hall of Metals marked the coming of age of the Damanhurian artists." pp. 74-75

The Temples are Discovered

In the Hall of Water

[In 1991 Damanhur was blackmailed by a former resident who knew about the secret Temples. Damanhur did not accept this extortion. Local officials demanded to see the secret Temples. A few years of political, legal, and press battles ensued.]

"On October 9 the first press conference was held in Damanhur to announce the existence of the Temples. From that day on, for three years, virtually every week there were journalists and television crews at Damanhur. Coboldo said:
'We started an action that became a chain reaction. It was all new for us. We had been used to building the Temples in silence and secrecy. Now, from one day to the next, it became the subject of public discussion. It was really strange and difficult.'

"But the Public Prosecutor had given us a lifeline by giving us access to the Temples, even though it was under sequestration. Journalists, politicians and technicians, architects and engineers were also allowed to visit. So we were able to show the Temples to all sorts of people and ask them to help us find a way of saving them." p. 192

The Temples of Humankind were saved

Hall of Water

"The campaign worked. The more people came to Damanhur, the stronger it became. Now visitors were coming from all over the world, not tourists coming to ogle, but serious people interested in Damanhur’s ideas, interested in the spiritual journey. Damanhur would never be the same again. It was no longer engaged in building secret Temples, but in playing host to the fellow seekers of the world, finding common cause with other individuals and groups on their own spiritual paths." pp. 193-194

"Some Italian Members of Parliament visited the Temples and felt it was necessary to bring the problem directly to Rome in order to find a solution. In 1995 the Temples were declared a work of art by the regional Beaux Arts authority and finally, in 1996, all actions against Damanhur and Oberto Airaudi in relation to the Temples were dropped." pp. 193-194

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