The Temples of Turin

     Oberto Airaudi was always a bit different from the other kids in the northern Italian city of Turin where he grew up. He was the only one who would skip soccer practice after classes let out to go straight home to begin digging. He did it in secret initially, but eventually his parents discovered a mound of dirt in woods bordering their property. After a bit of poking around they linked the dirt in the forest a hole under their house.

     Down in the hole that was deeper than he was tall, 10-year-old Oberto was busy wielding a shovel. When asked what he was doing he muttered something about temples and Horus, the falconheaded deity of ancient Egypt. No more visits to the Egyptian Museum of Turin, which contains the world’s largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside of Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, Oberto’s parents decided.

     But it was too late. By then Oberto had already developed a keen fascination for all things ancient and Egyptian, and was convinced in a previous life he’d been a cleric at a temple dedicated to Horus. By the time he was in his twenties, Oberto had adopted the name “Falco”(after the falcon-headed Horus), and was well on his way to building a temple in the Egyptian god’s honor.

     Along the way he built a total of seven temples, where a veritable pantheon of Egyptian, Celtic and other gods were represented. But it wasn’t until 13 years after the construction project began that anyone outside of Falco’s close circle of friends and associates set foot inside the temples. They had all been excavated in secret and might have stayed that way had villagers near the underground complex not alerted authorities.

     “Underground cult exposed by authorities” screamed the headlines when the cavernous compound was raided by police in 1991. Originally law enforcement had only searched through the dozen houses and other buildings dotting the hillside site located in hilly terrain at the foot of the Italian Alps. Convinced there was more than met the eye, however, they threatened to blow up a hill or two if not given access to the purported underground chambers. Rather than lose what he and likeminded friends had toiled long and hard to build, Falco let the authorities into hidden temples.

     Access came through a secret trap door in Falco’s house, and what the three policemen and lone prosecutor saw as they descended into the Italian bedrock took their breath away. There were seven temples that had been dug at depths of 100 feet (33 meters), as well as miles of snaking passageways.  The aboveground community was named Damanhur, meaning “City of Light” in Greek, but what lay beneath was called the Temples of Humankind. Individually their names are the Hall of Water, the Hall of Earth, the Hall of Metals, the Hall of Spheres, the Hall of Mirrors, the Blue Temple and the Labyrinth.

     Though suspected initially of violating building codes and failing to obtain construction permits, the builders weren’t charged with any crimes. The Temples of Humankind ultimately were not closed off—or destroyed—either.  With all the stained glass domes, tiled mosaic floors, sculpted columns and vivid murals that filled the temples, they deserved to be marveled at and not sealed, decided the powers that be.

     Whether or not Falco and his followers are running a cult is open to interpretation, but Italian authorities ultimately have not found them in breach of any laws. Thus, the community in the shadow of the Alps remains much as it was pre-discovery, where members live and work together, school their own children, and sell products and produce to the outside world as means by which to fund their lifestyle.

     Tourists who are willing to part with €60, and sign various waivers and agreements, are allowed to visit the subterranean complex. Folks who do so almost always concur that concur that those concealed chambers are fully deserving of the “Eighth Wonder of the World” title that many have bestowed upon them.