The Templars and the Architecture of the Dome of the Rock
According to some scholars, the churches founded by the mysterious order would adopt a Muslim architectural style: heresy or recovery of knowledge dating back to ancient Atlantis?
Speaking about the Templars in an original way nowadays is practically impossible. Apart from the fact that everything and its opposite has been said about this monastic order, founded (perhaps) in 1118 and "disbanded" in 1307, the real problem for a scholar addressing the topic of the Templars is their evident heterodoxy compared to any other ecclesiastical order, with perhaps the only exception being the Cistercians.
However, the latter, thanks to the initial guidance of Saint Bernard, managed to remain relatively "quiet and orthodox" without incurring the wrath of the Popes and the Vatican hierarchies. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, however, already in the Middle Ages became synonymous with mystery, intrigue, and even witchcraft. The sham trial they underwent in 1307, which led to the disbandment of the Order in 1314 (although it was more of a suspension, still in effect today), contributed to increasing the doubts: were these Templars saints or devils? Were they heretics who spat on the Crucifix and worshipped a satanic idol—the Baphomet—or were they adherents of an ancient religion that some trace back to the times of Atlantis?
We have had the opportunity to thoroughly analyze the architecture of the Templar churches in Barcelona, and the discoveries we have made (detailed in our Dossier) are as astonishing as they are straightforward in their interpretation. In short, it seems clear that with a minimal critical spirit, observing what the Templars left us before their removal from history, we cannot help but consider the warrior-monks as true champions of esotericism. Gothic cathedrals, Grail romances, King Arthur, and a tolerance toward the Arab world that opened the doors of Europe to ancient knowledge—all of this we owe to them. The foundations of mathematical calculation, for example: did you know that the number zero was introduced for the first time at the end of the 12th century in Christian Europe? The zero and the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., are all Indian influences that, through the Arabs and the Templars, reached Western culture.
The same capitalist system, the bourgeoisie, and the consequent class struggle, banks, checks, credit cards, current accounts—all perhaps mundane inventions, but they are legacies of the Templar world and derive from Eastern mathematical (and financial) knowledge. These associations, of course, made the Order's fortune but also sealed its fate, as clearly illustrated by the aforementioned vendetta of Philip the Fair of France, with the complicity of Pope Clement V, in 1307.
But concretely, what can we understand about Templar philosophy? As men of arms and economy, our champions of mystery left no theological writings or philosophical material, making it difficult to outline precisely what they believed. The only documents are those from the Inquisition trials, obtained through torture and the questionable practices typical of that dreadful institution. While interesting, one should not fully credit everything the zealous papal torturers extracted from the warrior-monks, as the atrocities were undoubtedly capable of making anyone say anything...
The point is that examples like the three churches in Barcelona arranged like the pyramids of Giza are extreme cases where Templar knowledge has come down to us almost intact. Perhaps Gothic cathedrals also hide these secrets, and only by analyzing them meticulously can one understand the intent of the mysterious stonemasons who created these "books of stone." However, the link with the Templars is always very tenuous, very hidden. One must look at the churches built directly by the Order to understand the origin of their knowledge. And in this regard, it is beyond doubt that the origin of this knowledge was at the time of the foundation in 1118 or probably a few years earlier when Hugh of Payns, a noble vassal of the Count of Champagne, and nine other brothers went to the Holy Land to establish a monastic order to protect pilgrims. For this purpose, they were assigned by King Baldwin II the "Stables of Solomon," an area underneath what centuries earlier was the Temple of Solomon and at that time occupied by the Mosque of Omar, the mythical Dome of the Rock sacred to Islam.
In truth, archaeologists today state that the area assigned by King Baldwin to the Templars was that of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, just four hundred meters from the Dome of the Rock, and which during the Crusader period was transformed into a military palace.
Whatever the place, it is certain that the location appears entirely peculiar. We will discuss the Temple of Jerusalem and the certain presence, according to our studies, of a Porta Coeli, a passage to other corners of the Universe or other dimensions, in other contexts. The point is that the Temple, "that" Temple, is the key to the entire Templar experience, to the point of becoming an integral part of the common and simplified name by which the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ were called. A Christ worshipped in a strange form: perhaps much more similar to Muhammad, who ascended to heaven called by Allah from a stone contained in the overlying Dome of the Rock, the Porta Coeli. The Templars dug tens of meters below this "dimensional tunnel" for ten years, searching for lost knowledge that they then esoterically revealed to the World. In this place, a few hundred meters apart, we find two of the three most holy sites of Islam, the most holy site of Christianity, and the very essence of Judaism, namely the Western Wall...
Digging here means penetrating the essence of the three monotheistic religions, which at this point could become one, according to a syncretism that was not only Templar but also of other illustrious medieval men of mystery, such as Emperor Frederick II. But in the name of this Universal Religion common to all men, what did the Templars discover? What did they find so precious that it changed the very face of Europe and the world? Archaeological analyses have revealed nothing from that period: the third decade of the 12th century is almost impenetrable. Indeed, from a historical perspective, Fulcher of Chartres, the official chronicler of King Baldwin II—who, let us remember, was the brother of the conqueror of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Godfrey of Bouillon—does not even mention Hugh of Payns and his fellow brothers.
The date 1118 is entirely hypothetical regarding the founding of the order; it is only known that in 1128, at the Council of Troyes, the Templars were officially recognized by Pope Honorius II, who also approved their Rule, enthusiastically written by Saint Bernard. Modern scholars and writers on the subject have indulged in numerous speculations: some claim the Ark of the Covenant was found, others the Holy Grail, some the Grail contained within the Ark, some think of the Tablets of the Law of Moses, while others think of Hermetic papyri, perhaps even the construction plans of the Egyptian pyramids and the Solomon Temple itself, which was a masterpiece of symbolism.
In short, all the arcane knowledge that the Roman Empire had hidden and that centuries of barbarian invasions had obliterated! Somehow the Templars recovered part of a forgotten knowledge, for many the very knowledge of the antediluvian peoples often associated with Atlantis today… A knowledge that the ancients had preserved in chambers of time, one of which (according to the usual mystery writers) was located exactly under the Temple of Solomon. Speculations? Certainly. What evidence is there indeed of such lost knowledge? Yet in our articles, we have long discussed the secret cult of the Black Madonna and the probable existence of a secret group that still carries on the worship of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, the Egyptian triad that with its myth perhaps tells the genesis of humankind. If it is beyond doubt that Gothic cathedrals tell us a story that is definitely not in any way the Gospel, it remains to be understood what deeds, besides that of the Egyptian Divine Family, we can still learn.
For example, in Barcelona, despite the three articles in the Dossier, there are still unresolved doubts about at least two points, one of which concerns the House of the Templars, the headquarters of the Order of the Temple in the Catalan capital. Situated in a narrow alley outside the medieval commercial area, it still features a strange semi-octagonal chapel, the very signature of Templar architecture. An octagon, like the Dome of the Rock… Octagonal, like Frederick II's Castel del Monte, which is a sort of monument to the number eight! Octagonal like many baptisteries, like many pre-Romanesque churches unfortunately erased by time. Some remain, in Italy, in various places including Pisa, Mantua, Asti, Bologna, and Brindisi: "octagonal or even circular because that is the shape of the universe," as Saint Ambrose maintained, who also wanted the baptistery in Milan to be of this shape, now visible as a ruin beneath the famous Cathedral.
Saint Ambrose, who was the bishop of Milan and is today its patron saint, presided over a city that, as we explored in another article, was a very ancient Celtic sanctuary, rich in astronomical alignments and sacred springs. In Milan, at least until 738 CE, there existed an extraordinary building called the Arengo, built by the "Etruscan king Mesappo" from white and black marble in horizontal stripes, circular in shape, with 365 rooms "that could have accommodated all the legions of Italy."
An orator could speak from it and be perfectly heard from any position due to its remarkable acoustics, as recorded by early medieval chroniclers (the 8th-century Versum de Mediolano civitate). Two later chroniclers, Besta and Galvano Fiamma, also mention it, but it is clear that it was destroyed before the 12th century, likely by Frederick Barbarossa during his invasion in the communal era. However, Besta also states that the building contained a labyrinth and a spring connected to a well, as well as sacred trees inside. This Arengo thus had a symbolism we have already discussed: a sanctuary sacred to the Celts, a circular nemeton with a water source energized by the Earth's magnetic field, a sort of "milk" of the Great Mother able to nourish the Son, the human being. Therefore, the Arengo becomes a kind of refuge, the "planet" that hosts a microcosm replicating the macrocosm on a smaller scale.
The 365 rooms make this Arengo a very large building, perhaps not so much in height but in width. According to rough calculations, it could measure fifty meters in diameter and twenty meters in height, though these might be underestimates; nonetheless, it was a very imposing sanctuary with great spiritual significance. In a certain sense, the octagonal shape is an evolution of circularity, as from a numerological and Kabbalistic perspective, the number 8 contains all the numbers of the divine and the human: three, four, and five, remaining just below the absolute perfection of 9. Thus, if the circle represents the natural divine, the octagon and octagonal structures symbolize a divine understood by man, materialized, and reduced to our dimension. Octagonal like the Mosque of Omar, which is not coincidentally topped by a golden dome: the material divine ascends and becomes the spiritual divine, everything aligns!
And the concept aligns with the remains of the Templar architectures as well. Let us go to London, to the Temple district, to observe the Temple Church, the best-preserved church of our warrior monks. Externally, it has a clear circular plan, while inside one can notice the columns that transform the circle of the overlying dome into an earthly octagon. All the guides state that it was built in imitation of the Anastasis, the Holy Sepulcher, the holiest church of Christianity situated right next to the Mosque of Omar. Constantine’s Anastasis was built in 326 CE by the Roman Emperor Constantine on what was considered to be Golgotha, the site of Christ's crucifixion. It has a circular plan that includes the tomb of Jesus, a fragment of the stone that sealed it, and the exact spot from which Jesus ascended to Heaven, now occupied by an Orthodox altar. In theory, it is the most sacred place for a Christian, even more so than the Vatican, and one should know everything about this place. However, beyond the conventional wisdom, we can find here very unsettling mysterious elements. Like in the nearby Mosque of Omar, there is also a trace of a Porta Coeli here. Jesus was taken up to Heaven by God…
But it could be that the location chosen by Constantine was wrong and that the original Porta Coeli is actually that of the Dome of the Rock. Let us not forget that this place is Bet-El, the House of God, the stairway to Heaven that the prophet Jacob saw in a dream (with angels going up and down it). If Muhammad also ascended to Heaven from the stone contained in the Dome, it is easy to think that the true place of ascension (what we can indeed consider a portal to higher dimensions) is not located in the Anastasis but in the mosque built in 687 CE by Sheikh 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The Templars, who studied the area for a long time, realized this and recovered the relevant knowledge… This is why Templar churches also possess a circular octagonality, a hidden octagonality that reproduces the Mosque of Omar. The columns serve as a bridge between celestial perfection and artificial terrestrial perfection, a perfection we can achieve only after profound work with mathematical and cabalistic, and thus magical-alchemical, knowledge. What can we say in conclusion? Were the Templars heretics? In a certain sense, yes, but perhaps they were faithful to a "superior" religion to Christianity, which in our opinion is tens of thousands of years old.
A phenomenal symbolism, full of spiritual implications and in a certain sense moving, because it is destined for the spiritual elevation of Man. A religion superior to Christianity not in a practical sense, because it is known and practiced by only a few elect: a superior religion indeed widely tolerated by Christianity, as the case of Barcelona teaches us, provided it maintained that veneer of exclusivity given by the symbolism that made it forbidden to ignorant humanity, for whom Christianity, but also Judaism or Islam, would have sufficed... But today perhaps we have the skills and the possibility to understand this hidden knowledge and also to access spiritual elevation ourselves, like modern Templars, through the message left in the proportions of the most esoteric churches. Who wants to come with us?
