Built by the Knights Templars and modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Temple Church lies in an area known as "Temple", between Fleet Street and the River Thames, in the City of London. Two Inns of Court (Inner Temple and Middle Temple) both share the church which was consecrated on February 10, 1185 in a ceremony by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Temple Church's circular nave is known as "the Round" and contains the remarkable marble effigies of medieval knights set into its floor. These famous effigies of sleeping knights dressed in their crusader armour, all date from the 12th and 13th centuries. The church has a fine Norman doorway and the chancel, consecrated in 1240, contains Purbeck marble piers. Unfortunately, during the bombing of WW2, the marble piers and Templar effigies was badly damaged but both have been faithfully restored.
The Temple Church, is the largest of the four circular churches to survive in England and was once the base of the powerful military order of the Knights Templar until the early 14th century, when the Order was abolished. It was later given to the Knights Hospitaller, who rented the Temple to two colleges of lawyers. One college moved into the part of the Temple previously used by the Temple's knights, and the other into the part previously used by its priests, and they shared the use of the church. Over time, the colleges evolved into the Inner and Middle Temples, two of the four Inns of Court.
The church is decorated with grotesque heads and also features a penitentiary cell where members of the order were locked in the confined space and starved to death, for disobeying the rules of the Temple.
Oliver Goldsmith was buried in the churchyard of the Temple Church in 1774.
The Da Vinci Code and Temple Church - The church was featured in the controversial novel "The Da Vinci Code" by American author Dan Brown and filming of the film version also occurred there.
Tube ( Underground ) : Temple
