Catholic and Loving it!

I wrote the other day about the secret french guerilla conservationists and not one person sent me an email offering to take part in such a project in England. Now I read about this...

A house was built on the hillside and Falco moved in with several friends who shared his vision. Using hammers and picks, they began their dig to create the temples of Damanhur - named after the ancient subterranean Egyptian temple meaning City of Light - in August 1978.

As no planning permission had been granted, they decided to share their scheme only with like-minded people.

...

The first time the police came it was over alleged tax evasion and still the temples lay undiscovered. But a year later the police swooped on the community demanding: "Show us these temples or we will dynamite the entire hillside."

Falco and his colleagues duly complied and opened the secret door to reveal what lay beneath.

Three policemen and the public prosecutor hesitantly entered, but as they stooped down to enter the first temple - named the Hall of the Earth - their jaws dropped.

Click on this link to see photos. It's awesome. The official site is here and the flickr search here.

The style of the art is a bit new-age-cult for my taste (like the cover of the Watchtower), but come on, a group of people secretly digging an underground temple (sorry, nine underground temples) is cool.

Remind me again why we don't have one of these...? Once again, if anybody want's to join my secret underground church art improvement society then let me know.