★★★★★ 5.0
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Temple Church
Ten medieval knights carved in stone sleep eternally on the floor inside that honey-colored round tower ahead of you, including William Marshal, the man who helped create Magna Carta right here in Temple. This is Temple Church, one of only four round churches left in all of England, and you're standing in the historic Temple district tucked between Fleet Street and the Thames where the mysterious Knights Templar built their English headquarters in 1185. As you approach the entrance, notice how the round sandstone structure connects to a larger rectangular section... that extension was added in 1240 specifically because King Henry III wanted to be buried here, though he later changed his mind for Westminster Abbey instead. The round design deliberately echoes Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, reminding Templars of Christ's burial every time they entered for their secretive dawn initiation ceremonies. Step inside and you'll discover this isn't just ancient history... Dan Brown featured this very church in The Da Vinci Code, and Shakespeare wrote about the Temple gardens in Henry VI, imagining the Wars of the Roses beginning right outside these walls. The lawyers from Inner and Middle Temple still maintain this church today, just as they have since the 1400s, keeping alive nearly 900 years of continuous worship in London's most enigmatic sacred space.
Did You Know?
- Temple Church was consecrated in 1185 as the English headquarters of the Knights Templar, a powerful order of crusading knights who protected pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem and became known as Europe’s first international bankers, even storing royal treasures for King John during the Magna Carta crisis.
- The church’s Round Nave is one of only four medieval round churches left in England and was directly inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, symbolizing the Templars’ connection to the Holy Land; look closely at the West Door columns, and you’ll find sculpted busts wearing turbans and ‘oriental’ clothing, hinting at the Templars’ encounters with the Muslim world during the Crusades.
- Inside the nave, you can see nine medieval stone effigies of knights, including William Marshal—a key negotiator of the Magna Carta—and his son, making the church a rare place where families can literally walk among the ‘sleeping’ figures of knights who shaped English history; the church also became a tourist sensation after featuring in Dan Brown’s novel *The Da Vinci Code*.