Rosicrucian Park

Despite belonging to an order devoted to mysteries and hidden truths, the Rosicrucian Park is a publicly spectacular tribute to the group's love of ancient Egypt.

The Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California is the headquarters of the Rosicrucian Order, formally known as the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, or just the AMORC. The organization's focus is to "study the elusive mysteries of the universe," placing a great deal of their study on the world of the ancient Egyptians. They utilize ideas from major philosophers such as Thales and Pythagoras to delve into the hidden knowledge of the world, studying and promoting such fields as alchemy, sacred geometry, and extra-sensory perception.

The park itself spans a city block and includes several structures including a research library, a planetarium, and a temple. Each of the structures is built and decorated to evoke the style of ancient Egypt with colorful patterns covering the exterior of the buildings. The park is also home to a number of elaborate gardens where the order has planted its titular roses in addition to papyrus trees in tribute to their reclaimed Egyptian heritage. A smattering of statues also litter the park, representing a variety of styles from Classical to ancient Egyptian.    

Rosicrucian Park also houses the ashes of AMORC founder Harvey Spencer Lewis in a shrine dedicated to the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. A visit to the park does not guarantee the keys to any secular knowledge, but visitors are guaranteed to walk away with a better understanding of ancient Egyptian style.