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All the United States Wisconsin Rudolph Rudolph Grotto Gardens

Rudolph Grotto Gardens

Five acres of divinely inspired folk art.

Rudolph, Wisconsin

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Anson Moran
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Wonder Cave Entrance.   abmoran / Atlas Obscura User
A secular Wonder Cave shrine.   abmoran / Atlas Obscura User
A Wonder Cave shrine.   abmoran / Atlas Obscura User
The Father Wagner Memorial Museum, formerly the Wonder Caves gift shop.   Jonathunder/GDFL 1.2
St. Jude’s Chapel, which overlooks the caves.   Jonathunder/GDFL 1.2
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About

The Rudolph Grotto Gardens includes St. Jude's Chapel and wild gardens, but the real draw are the Wonder Caves. They resemble catacombs and consist of 26 shrines and dioramas along a .2 mile tunnel. These caves were built not by nature, but by one Father Philip Wagner.

In 1912, early in his seminary career, he traveled to Lourdes, France to visit the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. He asked for a return to health so that he could make it through the ordination process. If this prayer was fulfilled, he would build another shrine to Our Lady.

Wagner's prayer was answered—he became a priest, and was stationed in Rudolph, Wisconsin. Despite the fact that he didn't know the first thing about construction, he began work on a new chapel, more central to the townspeople, and of course, the shrine he promised. Work continued until 1983, carried on by Father Wagner, his successors, and various inspired volunteers.

The shrines depict the Stations of the Cross and the Seven Sorrows of Mary, but there are also several secular displays of rural life. It is a simultaneously reverent and whimsical reflection of one mans spectacularly idiosyncratic vision. 

Related Tags

Grottoes Caves Follies And Grottoes Art Naive Art Ecosystems

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Has to be by car.

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abmoran

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson

  • Molly McBride Jacobson

Published

January 9, 2017

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Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Grotto_Gardens
  • http://www.mnmuseumofthems.org/Grotto/Wonder1.html
  • http://www.jmkac.org/plan-a-visit/wandering-wisconsin-rudolph-grotto
Rudolph Grotto Gardens
6957 Grotto Ave
Rudolph, Wisconsin
United States
44.498729, -89.801648
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