Today’s
The World Around Us
will be presented
in Italian and English,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English, French,
German, Hungarian,
Indonesian, Italian,
Japanese, Korean,
Malay, Persian,
Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish, and Thai.
Greetings and welcome to
The World Around Us
on Supreme Master
Television.
Today our show takes us
on a fabulous
underground journey into
the Damanhur Temples
of Humankind.
Nestled in the foothills
of Italy’s
Northern Italian Alps,
the temples represent
a modern day wonder
that pay tribute to the divine
in each one of us.
The subterranean
works of art in
the Temples of Damanhur
are the creations
of a small spiritual
community, Damanhur,
with a grand vision.
Damanhur
is a society of those
sharing the same ethical
and spiritual values.
They were once awarded
by the United Nations
as a model
for a sustainable future.
The Damanhurians have
their own constitution.
It reads: “Citizens are
brothers and sisters
who help one another
through reciprocal trust,
respect, clarity,
acceptance, solidarity
and continuous
inner transformation.”
The community’s
founder, Oberto Airaudi,
who is known as “Falco,”
actually began
dreaming of the temples
when he was
only about ten years old.
From an early age,
Falco had the ability
to be transported
in his mind’s eye
to a place of grandeur,
an image from a past life.
Damanhur, in fact, means
“city of light,” named
after an Egyptian city
with a temple dedicated
to the god Horus.
In 1992, what had been
a secret building project
came into the light
of the public attention.
Today,
Italy claims the temples
as the “Eighth Wonder
of the World”
with thousands of visitors
coming to enjoy
the beauty and inspiration
offered here.
Let’s now join
our Damanhurian guide,
Esperide Ananas.
I am here today with
Esperide Ananas, in the
“Temples of Damanhur.”
actually the
“Temples of Humankind”
in Damanhur,
and we are in one of
the halls right now.
Could you describe to us
what this hall is?
Yes. We are now in
one of the lowest points
of the Temples.
We are 30 meters
below ground and this is
the Hall of the Earth,
dedicated to our planet.
And we are sitting
right in front of a door,
a glass door dedicated
to our star, the Sun.
Beautiful!
Amazing artwork in here!
Could you tell us a little
bit about how these
temples began, the vision
that the founder had, and
a little bit of the history?
So the temples’ building
started in 1978
in the summer and
there is a beautiful story
about that, because the
founders of Damanhur
were sitting outside and
they saw a shooting star,
and they thought that
that was
a very good omen and to
start digging the temples.
The idea was
to create temples
dedicated to humankind,
to the reawakening
of the Divine inside
every human being.
So what we represent here
is really the journey
of our soul in the world
of forms and beyond.
So the temples
are dedicated
to this new awakening
of consciousness that
we hope will take place
if human beings
take action.
Because our philosophy
is very much
based upon action,
the idea that spirituality
has to be turned
into something concrete,
so that we have to be able
to use everything that we
have: our soul, our spirit
and our hands together
in unity to create and
build a different world.
Currently,
the Damanhurian Temples
feature
nine underground rooms
which are connected
by a series of labyrinths.
The winding paths
are dedicated to
the relationship between
humanity and the divine.
The windows
that grace the labyrinth
depict divinities.
Visitors are accompanied
by a guide as they could
otherwise get lost.
Let’s go visit
some of the rooms:
The Blue Temple is
the oldest hall and serves
as a place of inspiration
and reflection.
In the form of a chalice,
the Hall of Water
is dedicated to water and
the feminine principle.
Blue is the prevalent color.
The Hall of the Earth
is dedicated
to the male principle
and the circular room
rises in a cone shape
toward the ceiling.
It is dedicated
to all living things.
The Hall of Mirrors
is dedicated
to music and the sky.
The Hall of Spheres is
the center of the complex
and features a ceiling
decorated with
24-karat gold leaf.
Esperide told us more
about the creation
of the incredible
Temples of Damanhur.
Everything
is being created by hand.
We dug out about
3 million buckets of rock
that we took out by hand.
Everything has been done
by hand, yes!
And also everything has
been done by the people
who live here,
so very few people
started the temples.
There were no more
than a dozen
and we’ve never been
more than a couple
of hundred really,
working on the temple.
So maybe that’s a little bit
what you call the miracle.
For us it is a way
to demonstrate that
a small group of people
can accomplish
beautiful things that seem
impossible if they are
moved by the same ideal.
Amazingly,
none of those involved
was a professional artist.
Well that’s another one
of the miracles,
I would say!
We believe that everybody
is an artist, and
Damanhur gives people
an opportunity
to really try that out.
So, no, nobody
who moved here, who
came here was already
an accomplished artist.
They all kind of
developed their skills here.
Some had
some school training
but most of our artists
moved here when
they were very young.
So really
their transformation
into accomplished artists
happened here.
One of
the peculiar things is that
our artists work together.
So what you see
in the temples,
what you see in Damanhur
is not the result
of just one person’s
creative impulse, but it’s
always the mingling,
the blending
of everybody’s
talents and ideas.
And for us, this
is a collective art, what
we call “a people’s art,”
because it is the
expression of the culture,
the dreams, the ideals,
the accomplishments of
the people of Damanhur.
Damanhurian art
is rich with symbolism.
One of the canons, one of
the foundations of our art
is what we call
the Sacred Language,
which is an ancient
ideogrammatic language.
So it’s not an alphabet,
but each concept
is linked to a symbol
that has a specific shape.
This is used as the basis
for a lot of
the decoration.
So when you are
looking at things,
maybe they look just
like beautiful patterns,
but what you are seeing
is actually writing.
So every single thing
in the temple, every
decoration, every detail
has a meaning because
it can actually be read.
Also the colors are vibrant.
What kind of role does
color play symbolically
and in the temples?
Colors in every civilization
are important to
relate to specific things.
So also in Damanhur
we have different colors
to represent
the different principles:
the masculine,
the feminine, the elements
of nature, the link
with the divine forces.
Just as the artistry of
the Damanhurian Temples
awakens wonder,
so too do
the engineering feats that
went into their creation.
We’ll find out more
when we return.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television.
We return now to
the Damanhurian Temples
of Humankind,
an amazing and beautiful
subterranean complex
located in northern Italy.
Rich in colorful
and symbolic artwork,
their construction also
represents a technical feat.
Now when you were
building this,
there must have been
underground springs
and water issues
that had to be dealt with.
From what I understand
that there wasn’t anyone
that was a licensed
architect or engineer.
How did you do your
researches to determine
how to build these,
to mitigate the water
and other issues?
We learnt by doing.
We read many books.
We tried, we started with
a small room and then
started bigger rooms,
and it was a miracle.
Yes.
And I understand today
that the architects
and engineers come in
and they are in awe
at what you’ve
been able to create.
Yes, it’s interesting.
We also had a delegation
of Italian architects
who build subway
stations and
subway tracks and trains.
They wanted to see how
we did it for ventilation,
because here
it’s completely natural.
We don’t need any pumps,
we don’t need anything.
We take advantage
of the chimney effect:
the difference
between the highest
and the lowest points,
so the air is constantly
pushed around
by the difference
in temperature.
The location of
the underground temples
in the Piedmont region
of Italy
has a special significance.
It was built
at the convergence
at lines of energy known
as “synchronic lines.”
The synchronic lines
are parts of the ancient
heritage of the knowledge
of humanity,
and what is called
“the ageless wisdom.”
But for a long time,
they were kind of lost,
the idea that they existed,
as many things
of importance
in the human history.
And so the founders
of the Damanhur
went around the world
to complete the map
of these energy lines.
The synchronic lines
are the energy lines
which connect the Earth
to the Sun
and to the planets
where there is life.
So they transport energies,
ideas, dreams, souls,
they’re really the largest
spiritual highways
connecting the cosmos.
And they wanted to build
the temples and Damanhur,
and the community
in a place that would be
in contact with this energy,
so that everything
that you can do
can be amplified.
I’ve also heard it’s called
“The Dragon Lines,”
where does that
originated from?
The ancient Chinese
called this that
for the dragon lines,
“the back of the dragon”
or “the dragon lines.”
The Damanhurian Temples
are holy places
which serve to reconnect
their participants with the
artistic creative process.
That means that
not only they are used
for arts but also
for the performing arts.
And so music, dancing,
singing are very often
performed in the temples
and most of our
musicians and dancers
or composers come here
for inspiration.
They actually rehearse
in the temples.
The vision for
the Damanhurian Temples
goes beyond what
we have currently seen.
Because
what you’re seeing now
is really only 10%
of what we have in mind.
So this first part here in
this part of the mountain
is almost complete.
But we want to build
a much larger complex
which is what we call
the Temple of Peoples.
We want that to be
dedicated to the spiritual
and cultural heritage
of all the peoples
of the world,
so that it can become
a place for meetings,
a place for peace
in the world, where people
can come and meet.
We thank you
for joining us on
The World Around Us.
Coming up next is
Words of Wisdom,
up next after
Noteworthy News,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May your days
be filled with inspiration
from the Divine.