The Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption is a religious shrine in West Bend, Iowa, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. A conglomeration of nine grottos depicting scenes in the life of Jesus, it contains a large collection of minerals and petrifications and is believed to be the largest grotto in the world. It is also “considered to be the world’s most complete man-made collection of minerals, fossils, shells, and petrifications in one place. ” The estimated value of the rocks and minerals which make up the Grotto is over $4,308,000. Over 100,000 people visit each year. It includes a museum with precious and semiprecious stones from throughout the world, and photos and artifacts about the construction of the shrine.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Grotto of the Redemption“, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.