Templar chapel architecture in France

Chapels are today the most iconic remains of Templar buildings in France. Sometimes alone in their village or in the open countryside, they have long attracted the attention of art historians. The myth of the primacy of round churches which has only been documented for the Temple in Paris, Laon and perhaps Metz in France, has now been disproved. What was the common design of Templar chapels?

The Templar church at Chamberaud, Creuse, France

Perhaps founded in 1193, the Templar commandery of Chamberaud (Creuse, France) stood on the natural promontory of the present bourg (village center). The oldest proven date relating to the existence of the House of the Temple of Chamberaud dates back to around 1258. The annexes of Chamberaud at the time of the Templars were Fransèches, La Pouge, Lépinas and Montbut.

The objective of the 1st Crusade - the changing Crusaders point of view

"Crusaders in the East were for the time militia (to the Byzantine Emperor, TN) who were there to serve a purpose. The question of restituting the churches of the East to Rome was not in the crusader’s plans. This position changed drastically when (Emperor TN) Alexius abandoned the Crusaders in view of the impending Muslim backlash. 

Templar churches and chapels

According to some authors the religious Templar churches and chapels were built in a way specific to the Order and arranged for the exercise of secret and mysterious rites. Hence the existence of a Templar architectural symbolism, the famous "Templar architecture", whose models would be octagonal buildings or rotunda, like the rotunda of the Temple of Paris.

Setting the stage for the Middle Ages - role of the Church

"The rude and unlettered barbarian tribes who had eclipsed the rule of the Roman Empire were led by the Roman Church. The Church provided the glue by which these scattered tribes became a united force capable of protecting the Continent against the military expansion of Islam and the Oriental hordes.

Breaking away of the Church from the secular society in the 11th century

From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, medieval Europe and the development of the Church saw rapid and radical change. After centuries of a move away from the archaic values of the desert fathers, the Church became embroiled in the political structure of Europe and became more and more intertwined with the secular world as the secular and spiritual worlds fought for power. How did this change come to be?

Round churches on Bornholm Island, Denmark - Templar or not?

Located 40 kilometers southeast of the southern tip of Sweden but territorially part of Denmark, the island of Bornholm is one of the oldest visible rocks in the world. The island has been settled since at least 3600 BC when numerous dolmens and Neolithic mounds began to be constructed. From medieval time churches remain, which are linked to the Knights Templar. Is there hard evidence for a Templar origin?