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All the United States Washington, D.C. Catacombs of Washington, D.C.
AO Edited

Catacombs of Washington, D.C.

Franciscan monks created a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.

Washington, D.C.

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Elliot Carter
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Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
The cracks are painted on.   Elliot Carter
Signage in the Chapel of Purgatory   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Mosaic of Lazarus rising from the dead   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
Postcard view, circa 1930 to 1945.   Boston Public Library
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.   Elliot Carter
Up Top   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
Underground Altar   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
A crypt   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
Entrance   salaseliezer / Atlas Obscura User
Crypt of St. Innocent   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Front entrance to the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Mosaic   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Narrow passage   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Beneath Washington, D.C., a dimly lit web of passages weaves throughout row after row of eerie wall graves, recalling early Christian burials in the catacombs of ancient Rome. The subterranean complex is located underneath the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, with a Dan Brown-style entrance near the main altar and the bones of a boy martyr inside.

However, the Catacombs of Washington, D.C., aren’t quite as ancient as the name would suggest, and all but one of the graves are totally fake. They were built at the turn of the 20th century by a well meaning group of Franciscan monks who wanted to create a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.

These catacombs do have an official Papal endorsement and contain one very real skeleton of what looks to be a seven or eight-year-old child. Legend holds that the bones belong to a martyr from the second century and made their way to D.C. from the Catacomb of St. Callistus in 1929.

Above the catacombs the Franciscans also brought together a sort of spiritual amusement park, complete with replicas of the tomb of Jesus and numerous other altars, chapels, and grottos from the Old World. Visitors can complete a veritable world tour of Roman and Middle Eastern religious shrines in a single afternoon.

A Roman architect named Aristides Leonori produced the design for a mini-catacomb based on measurements and photographs of the originals in Italy. Three architecturally distinct sections represent various chapters from early Christian lore.

Unlike the Roman originals, which were scraped from the earth and soft rock by hand two millennia ago, the D.C. catacombs were cast from aggregate cement and come in at a spry 120 years of age. They’re also much smaller in scale: essentially three interconnected arcades, as opposed to the hundreds of miles that stretch beneath Rome.

Related Tags

Tunnels Catacombs And Crypts Relics And Reliquaries Religion Architectural Oddities Hidden Architecture Sacred Spaces Subterranean Sites

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Added By

Elliot Carter

Edited By

erjeffery, tarahooks, salaseliezer, erkiletian...

  • erjeffery
  • tarahooks
  • salaseliezer
  • erkiletian
  • blimpcaptain

Published

November 13, 2017

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  • https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/91001943.pdf
  • https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3850087;view=1up;seq=509
  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/80863099/?terms=franciscan%2Bmonastery%2Bcatacomb
  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/145451688/?terms=franciscan%2Bmonastery%2Bcatacomb
  • The monastery tour guides, signs and a Guide to Art and Architecture of the Franciscan Monastery
Catacombs of Washington, D.C.
1400 Quincy Street, NE
Washington, District of Columbia
United States
38.93755, -76.984551
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