The Story of the Open Temple

In 1985 we decided to construct the Open Temple at Damjl where some kiwi trees were growing. The vision of 22 columns open to the sky made us dream right away, even if we didn’t have the slightest idea how to build them!

In Damanhur at that time, the person who had the most experience in ceramics was Passero Olmo, but he needed to make a really big leap from the coffee cups that he had created on the ceramics wheel up to that point, to rows of five and a half meter high terracotta columns!

Fortunately, there was nothing in the world that could keep us from believing that we could do it, even if hardly anyone had laid their hands on ceramics until then.

Falco Tarassaco, our spiritual guide, was always a great source of inspiration. He had boundless faith in our capacities and supported anyone who wanted to dive into a project that went beyond their own presumed skills.

With a similar impetus, we launched into the construction of this work of art, which seemed enormous at the time, and after two years, the Open Temple was open to the world. The statues, the large masks, the capitals were all made by self-taught artists full of passion, and every piece was the fruit of collective efforts, as we often asked each other for help in the creation process.

Like everything else in Damanhur, to build something grand outside of ourselves, we built something unique within ourselves.

The Open Temple, like the Temples of Humankind, have changed our lives. They have colored life with the certainty that together, we can build the impossible! And the key to this magic is love, and trust in ourselves and in others.

Formica Coriandorlo