There’s a little mystical piece of art hidden away in Southwest Wisconsin.
Dickeyville Grotto, Dickeyville, Wis.
The Dickeyville Grotto is a collection of shrines located in Dickeyville, Wis. To get to this magical attraction, exit from Hwy. 151 at the Dickeyville exit and drive north on Hwy. 60 through Dickeyville. A large sign will welcome you on the south side of the highway at Holy Ghost Catholic Church.
According to a pamphlet of information available at the site, the Grotto and Shrines are the works of Father Matthias Wernerus, a Catholic priest and pastor of the church from 1925-1930. He constructed the art pieces during his time at the church and dedicated the work to “the unity of two great American ideals—love of God and love of country.”
A family walks through the Dickeyville Grotto in Dickeyville, Wis.
At a distance, it looks like rocks piled to form arches, crosses, walls and shapes, but a closer look reveals the creation is a collection of materials—colored glass, gems, antique heirlooms of pottery or porcelain, stalagmites and stalactites, sea shells of all kinds, starfish, petrified sea urchins and fossils, coral, amber glass, agate, quartz, iron, copper, lead, fool’s gold, rock crystals, onyx, amethyst, coal, petrified wood and moss—secured in stone and mortar.
The Grotto garden contains many different shrines: the main shrine which houses the grotto of the Blessed Virgin, patriotic shrine, sacramental shrine of the Holy Eucharist, Sacred Heart shrine, Christ the King shrine and the Stations of the Cross.
All of these individual shrines were made without a blueprint. Imagine creating such a large piece of art without any formal plans.
Dickeyville Grotto, Dickeyville, Wis.
The grotto is open to the public and guided tours are available June 1 to Aug. 31, seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and September and October on weekends only. There is no specific fee for visiting the grotto, but all donation s are used for the upkeep and maintenance of the grotto and grounds.
More information:
608-568-3119