Franciscan Monastery

This honey-colored compound leaps out like an unexpected religious slap from the surrounding parkland and residential row houses. Also known as Mt St Sepulchre, the building is pretty but not particularly unique; more interesting are the carefully maintained grounds, threaded with walkways that lead past 44 acres of tulips, dogwoods, cherry trees and roses – and some unintentionally tacky re-creations of the Middle East. See, the Order of St Francis is charged with the guardianship of the Holy Land’s sacred sites, and it has interpreted that task in a unique way here, constructing replicas for the faithful on its grounds. There are life-size fake-granite reproductions of the Tomb of Mary and the Grotto at Lourdes, and within Mt St Sepulchre itself are reproductions of the Roman Catacombs under the sanctuary floor. These dark, narrow passages wind past some fake tombs and the very real remains of Sts Innocent and Benignus; claustrophobes need not apply. It’s all creepy and fascinating, like a holy Disneyland.