I’ve just visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which was the headquarters of the Knights Templar. Their full name was: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon – mercifully shortened to Templar. The significance of being based there was a belief that the original Jewish Temple had been built by the biblical king Solomon on that site.
King Baldwin II granted the Templars quarters in a wing of the Royal Palace on the Temple Mount, which Crusaders believed to be the site of Solomon’s Temple. Today it is the Al Aqsa Mosque. There are still vestiges of Templar construction in the mosque today. The great hall of the Templars extends from the western end of the Al Aqsa mosque to the western edge of the Haram esplanade.
The historian Benjamin Z. Kedar has detailed the Templar elements that can still be detected at the Al Aqsa. To be clear, the area was the Al Aqsa mosque before the crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099 and then reverted to being the Al Aqsa mosque after Saladin took the city back in 1187. The Templars were founded around 1118. So, you have a period of just under seventy years when it was in Templar hands.
Between the crusader conquest and being given to the Templars, it had functioned as the royal palace of the crusader kings of Jerusalem but proved hard to maintain. As was so often the case, the Templars were given property that the secular authorities found problematic in the hope they could do a better job as stewards.
After a while, it sounds as if the Templars created quite an impressive headquarters. Visitors wrote of galleried walking spaces, accommodation, reservoirs, baths, and granaries. In addition, there were the underground stables, allegedly built by King Solomon, that could hold ten thousand horses. A large meeting hall and cloister was also built. When Saladin seized Jerusalem back, his secretary – ‘Imād al-Dīn al-Isfahānī – confirmed the existence of many of these new constructions with a view to ‘purifying’ them (demolition in some instances).
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Temple Mount and the Knights Templar HQ
In 1099, Prince Tancred took Jerusalem in an orgy of blood with deaths of Muslims and Jews estimated between 3,000 and 70,000. The former figure is more realistic. But still shocking. The main arena for the massacre was the Temple Mount. By this time, it had gone through an interesting transformation.
When Jerusalem fell to Muslim armies in the seventh century after Christ, it was a thriving Byzantine (late Roman) metropolis. Not the sleepy backwater some say. In fact the population was relatively high. The new Muslim rulers appropriated the Temple Mount weaving the Qur’an’s account of the prophets into new buildings like the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque.
After 1099, the crusaders, Augustinian canons, and Knights Templar took over the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock became the Templum Domini and to the horror of Muslims, a huge gold cross was put on top of the dome. Apparently, wealthy Muslim traders repeatedly offered large sums to the crusaders and Knights Templar to take it down – to no avail.
The Knights Templar legacy on Temple Mount
Even though Jerusalem came back under Muslim control when Saladin kicked out the crusaders, a Templar legacy was left behind. They had significantly enlarged the Al Aqsa mosque. The women’s mosque and the gift shop are all part of large Templar extensions. If you look around the whole Temple Mount area, there are loads of “Frankish” additions – even within the Dome of the Rock.
Just as an aside – for some reason, the Templars didn’t remove the Arabic inscription inside the Dome of the Rock that denies the existence of the Trinity – and declares there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet (the Shahada). Given that the Knights Templar definitely knew what this meant, I don’t know how or why it remained.
Knights Templar tunnels under the Temple Mount
Intriguingly, the Templars spent a great deal of time digging under the Temple Mount. Believing it was the site of the first Temple, they were clearly keen to see what sacred relics could be discovered. Even though finding the Ark of the Covenant could have proved to be a mixed blessing. It might have given the Templars unlimited military power – equally, it might have blown up in their faces. All depending how Yahweh felt about the knights I suppose!
The tunnels include work in the area known today as the Wailing Wall. It’s actually the western wall of the Herodian temple. This is where Jewish people come to pray and weep over the fate of their beloved temple at the hands of the Romans. The larger blocks of stone towards the bottom of the wall – and those stones are huge – date from King Herod. Further up are medium-sized blocks from the early Muslim period (the Umayyad period) and then above much smaller stones from the Ottoman empire that ruled Palestine up to 1917.
To the west is Wilson’s Arch which was named after a Victorian explorer. It’s actually one of the piers of a bridge that connected the Temple to the old city. It allowed Jewish worshippers to easily access the temple to pray but also conduct mandatory animal sacrifices. The animals in question were bought on the Temple Mount – hence the money changers mentioned in the New Testament. It was good business!
Going under the arch, I found an enclosed area which is now a de facto synagogue. A constant hum of prayer and plastic chairs for older visitors. Here I am below in 2012 paying a visit – without a beard!!!
I Bet you didn’t wear any Templar symbols or Regalia at the Wall. I wore my Mantle under my coat and it was Seen by someone and i was asked to Leave the Area by the Head Rabbi in Charge of the Wall Plaza himself with two Israeli Soldiers . The older Rabbi’s still believe we are a viable threat to them.