Built by the Knight Templars, the most powerful European medieval order, this church is particularly famous for its round form. The church is situated between Fleet Street and the river Thames; it was consecrated in 1185, but it's gothic appearance has suffered from many refurbishments (Neo-Classical style, Victorian Gothic etc). It still remains an unusual place though, beautiful in its simplicity.
One of the main attractions of the church are the beautiful effigy tombs of Knight Templars (10 lying figures in armours), which were believed to be real tombs until WWII - the church was seriously damaged and during the restoration works no human remains were discovered.
The Temple Church gained new popularity recently due to the best-selling and controversial novel "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. The main characters are searching for the answer to the latest riddle on their "quest" through Paris and London; an action scene also takes place in the church.
One of Dan Brown's controversial statements is that the church architecture is "pagan to the core" - round form in honour of the sun (reminding of pagan Pantheons) instead of the traditional cruciform shape; he also claims that Knight Templars were actually a pagan order.
But the truth probably is, that the Temple Church was built in similitude to the Holy Sepulcer Church in Jerusalem, which the Temple order guarded during the Crusades.
ADDRESS:
Temple Ave London, England
OPEN:
Wed 1-4pm; Thurs and Sat 11am-noon and 1-4pm; Fri 11am-noon and 1-3:30pm; Sun 1-4pm
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