Temple Church (London, UK) - Medieval Churches on Waymarking.com

The Temple Church, which oldest part was built in 1185, belongs among the most beautiful and also the most historically valuable examples of the medieval ecclesiastic architecture in London.

This magnificent Romanesque-Gothic church was built by the secretive Knights Templar, an order of crusading monks founded in the 12th century to protect pilgrims travelling to and from Jerusalem. The Temple Church has a distinctive design and is in two parts: the Romanesque Round (consecrated in 1185 and modelled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) adjoins the Gothic Chancel (built in 1240), which is the heart of the modern church. Both parts were severely damaged by a bomb in 1941 and have been completely reconstructed. Its most obvious points of interest are the life-size stone effigies of nine 13th-century knights lying on the floor of the Round. Some of them are cross-legged but contrary to popular belief this doesn't necessarily mean they were crusaders. In recent years the church has become a must-see for readers of The Da Vinci Code because a key scene was set here...