San Salvatore, Underground church museum in Cabras, Italy
San Salvatore is an underground complex beneath a 17th-century church in Cabras featuring multiple rooms connected by corridors. A natural spring water well sits in a central circular chamber at the heart of this subterranean network.
The site began as a Neolithic settlement and became a Punic sanctuary dedicated to the god Sid. Later it was converted into a Roman temple of Asclepius before eventually transforming into a Christian place of worship.
The walls display writing in Punic, Greek, Latin, and Arabic alongside paintings mixing pagan and Christian themes. These layers of text and imagery show how different beliefs and peoples left their marks in the same underground space.
Access to the underground structure must be arranged through Cabras Town Hall in advance. Visitors should contact them before visiting since the complex is not freely accessible to the public.
The underground space houses ancient Nuragic basins that were repurposed and now hold holy water. This reuse of older stone basins reveals how earlier cultures were woven into later Christian practices.
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