Temple Church – the Da Vinci Code tour
Temple Church was built about 800 years ago, initially as a church and centre of the Knights Templar organisation in England. It has been expanded, bombed, and renovated over the years, and is a beautiful little church to visit in the heart of London. Oh, and it was featured in the Da Vinci Code, which means it’s a hotter tourist attraction now.
Where: Temple Church is in the middle of the Temple Inns, a historic legal centre in London. You can reach it by either Temple or Blackfriars Tube stations on the District and Circle lines.
Map:
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What to see:
The stone effigies of the Knights are fascinating, and several hundred years old. After being bombed in World War II, most of the interior of the main portion of the church has been re-built. It doesn’t take long to tour through the building, but it’s a beautiful little church. (The picture at top shows the majority of the main worship area.)
The church is open for visitors to it’s services. More specific information can be found on the Temple Church website.
Cost: There is no admission fee for the church, though they do appreciate donations for the upkeep of the building.
Note: Temple Church is closed most of the time you would be likely to arrive. I would advise checking the website before a trip there to make sure you stop by. (For example, it is closed all of August except for Sunday services.)
2 Comments
I have read some of the history of the Templer Knights and I am delighted that this little church has survived. I would like to think that it serves as a reminder of the good deeds they did. I sincerely hope they were indeed good deeds. I am living in Greece and I cannot wait until I am back home in the UK to visit this church.
Most of the sources we have for the history of the Templars were written by people who were trying to close them down – not the most unbiased or reliable source! But they were one of a number of orders founded in the East during the Crusades – the Knights Hospitallers was another, and they too had a London HQ with a round church. You can visit the site in Clerkenwell, though you can only see the foundations of the church.
The Knights Hospitallers eventually turned into the St Johns Ambulance Brigade. I wonder if the Templars, left in peace, might eventually have become a similar organisation – perhaps the Red Cross (or even, for those with a liking for the alchemical, the Rosy Cross)?