Entry No. 9 — the Memphis file — filed under: cemetery

Crystal Shrine Grotto

Inside a working cemetery, Mexican folk artist Dionicio Rodriguez spent the late 1930s hand-carving a 60-foot-deep fake cave out of concrete and five tons of quartz crystal hauled from an Arkansas cavern, lining it with sculpted scenes of Christ's birth-to-resurrection story — self-billed as the only man-made crystal cave in the world, and it's free to walk into.

The move: Find the grotto entrance on the cemetery grounds, step inside to see the colored-lit crystal formations and biblical dioramas, then hunt down Rodriguez's other rustic-concrete pieces on the property, like the hollowed-tree sculpture Abraham's Oak.

• 📍 Memorial Park Cemetery, East Memphis
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 5668 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN 38119

Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: memorialparkfuneralandcemetery.com · Wikipedia

last checked: 2026-07-20