A Secret of the Templars

The Templars (The Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon) was an order established by nine Frenchmen, some of whom were great architects. They traveled to Jerusalem in 1119 with the official purpose of guarding a road into Jerusalem, yet, it seems, with another ulterior motive, for they never left the city. They set their headquarters on the Temple mount and for seven years conducted activities there in secret. After those years, with their quest evidently unfruitful, they returned to France.

Soon after the Templars returned, an unexplained event occurred. The first Gothic cathedral was constructed at Chartres, France. An architectural style with no precedent, suddenly appeared in Europe for the first time. Historians have disagreed on the origins of the Gothic architectural style, but the coinciding of the Templars' return and the first example of Gothic architecture appearing may be more than coincidence. The explanation could be this: the Templars discovered something in Jerusalem. Whether it was manuscripts describing architectural principles or even the plans for Solomon's temple itself, no one knows. But the possibility remains that the Templars, master architects themselves, had found secret knowledge, and were influential in the manifestation of that knowledge in Chartres.