Gates of Mercy

May 23, 2004 4:31 PM

Holy Land. Unlike Orlando's, this one's courtesy of Waterbury, Connecticut. Take a tour, read the debate. A few more pics here and here. Also documented in a short video by Albuquerque resident Brian Konefsky and is on tour via the The Itinerant Cinemascape traveling film show. See if it's coming to your town.
posted by protocool (7 comments total)

Been there for years, decaying, and not far from myu digs. Wrote to ask permission to go and photograph. Never heard back. Thus link saves me film. Thanks.
posted by Postroad at 5:00 PM on May 23, 2004

Sounds like a great idea. Take some of the heat off of NYC and DC.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:52 PM on May 23, 2004

I can't resist: do you have to enter Holy Land through a miniature checkpoint?

I've driven I-84 through Waterbury more times than I can count, and I never knew what that big cross on the hilltop was about. Thanks.
posted by Ty Webb at 8:51 PM on May 23, 2004

I never thought I would see Holy Land end up on Mefi!! Having spent my teen years in Waterbury, we always wanted to drive up there to drink but never did. Something about all those years of Catholic school.
posted by archimago at 9:40 AM on May 24, 2004

I just caught this...as someone else who grew up right outside Waterbury (in Watertown, which is just on the other side of Waterville from Waterbury), it's weird to see Holy Land get any kind of notice so many years after the fact.

One of the things I remember most from several field trips there (Sunday school, etc.) was the "catacombs"--as I recall, you had to be a certain age to enter them, because that was where they staged all the depictions of the various martyrs and martyrdoms.

I still vividly remember the statue of St. Sebastian, with all the arrows, and especially the depiction of my own namesake saint, who was stretched out on the red-hot grill that was supposedly used. (Legend has it that when he was asked if he would recant his Christianity, he replied "You should turn me over--I think I'm done on this side.")
posted by LairBob at 12:24 PM on May 24, 2004

Another Holy Land, this one in Bedford, VA (also home to the D-Day Memorial).
posted by gottabefunky at 1:01 PM on May 24, 2004

I went there back in the late 80s - a friend of mine went recently and said it was even more decayed than when we saw it, some areas too dangerous to go into. Which is sad - I really enjoyed it as a Roadside Attraction, not as anything serious - more along the lines of an "outsider art" exhibit (though I've never liked that phrase).

As I remember we never asked permission to go in - the gate was open. So we went in. The whole place was deserted and very quiet. I kicked myself for not taking my camera.

I think Mass. band Dinosaur Jr. made a video (only briefly got airplay) that featured them walking around some of the miniature buildings, Godzilla-like - though without the destruction or attack by miniature tanks.
posted by batgrlHG at 6:55 PM on May 24, 2004