Temple Church (Knights Templar)

Yesterday I met up with Comms colleague, Rickey, he on his way to work, me on my way home, to go and visit the Temple Church.

(The Round Church, Chancel to the right...)

Built by the Knights Templar over 800 years ago, the Round Church was designed to recreate the shape and sanctity of the Round Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  The Chancel was added in 1240AD.

(View looking down the Chancel...)

The Knights Templar were an order of warrior monks founded during the Crusades to Jerusalem in 1118AD.  The vowed themselves to poverty, charity, and obediance, and to the protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land.

(The Altar)

The didn't remain poor for long, as their expertise in the managment of money across national boundaries turned them into financiers to all of Europe and they became very powerful money lenders.

(Stained glass in the Round Church)

When the Holy Lands were lost, their military power was no longer necessary, and their wealth and power made them a threat to Kings and Popes alike.  Their secret rituals also made them a target of mistrust.

(The Dome of the Round Church)

King Philip IV of France, who was deeply in debt to the Templars, used this mistrust to have them arrested and charged with gross blasphemies.  They were tortured into giving false confessions, and 54 Knights were burned at the stake outside Paris in 1310AD.

(Floor to ceiling in the Dome)

The Temple Church has become popular in recent years due to its inclusion in Dan Brown's novel, The DaVinci Code, as the location in which they initially search for the tomb of "a knight a Pope interred". 

(Effigies of Knights on the floor of the Dome)

However, the stone carvings on the floor of the Temple are not tombs, but effigies, as they later realize and head to Westminster Abbey to find the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton.

(Effigy of a Knight)

More on the history of the Temple Church in my next post...