Lisbon, the Templars and Tomar by Train

The crusading Knights Templar are synonymous with the medieval history of Europe. They may be consigned to the annals of history, but their legacy lives on in the enchanting rural city of Tomar.

The Templars, or to give them their full title the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were a religious military order, founded in 1118 and tasked with defending Christian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. They led pious lives, swearing oaths of poverty, chastity and obedience – they didn’t gamble, didn’t drink, and chose to live in closed religious communities, preparing and eating meals together, and sleeping in communal dormitories.

Despite their spiritual piety, their primary duty was to fight. Portugal owes its very existence to the religious order – under the leadership of Grand Master Gauldim Pais, they fought for the country’s first king, Dom Afonso I. His military campaigns drove the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula and led to the creation of Portugal in 1139.

The knights went into hiding across most of Europe following the dissolution (and persecution) of the order in the 14^th century. In Portugal, they were hidden in plain sight; rebranded as the Military Order of Christ, they were the driving force behind the country’s Age of Discoveries – pioneering sailors who charted the first sea routes from Europe to east Africa, India and beyond.

From the time of Gauldim Pais until well into the 20^th century, diminutive Tomar was the headquarters of the order. The Charola, their 12^th century Templar church is still here – a magnificent octagonal oratory, modelled on the Byzantine churches of the Holy Land. Their hilltop castle and fortified convent is also here – the starting point for their ocean voyages, their discovery of the islands of Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde, and their navigation of the sea routes to Brazil, Mozambique and Goa. Tomar’s importance was not lost on Portugal’s royal dynasties. Generations of kings and queens paid homage to the order and their hilltop Convento do Cristo which overlooks the town, adding their own grandiose chapels, cloisters and aqueducts in the hope of a favourable afterlife.

A slow process of decay set in at the end of the Liberal Wars in 1834, which also saw the abolition of a number of ancient religious orders – the castle and convent were subsequently turned into a pseudo-military base during the Estada Nova in the early 20^th century. A programme of renovation is now underway – it’s going to be a slow process, but now’s the time to see these wonderful architectural gems in their ‘raw state’, before eight-hundred years of unvarnished, living history becomes respectable, clean and tidy.

Lisbon’s your connection to Portugal by air, and we’ll top-and-tail your time in Tomar with a stay in another of the country’s architectural gems: the Editory Riverside Hotel. The Riverside opened in 2022 – it’s the converted southern wing of Lisboa Santa Apolonia: the capital’s oldest train station. Portugal’s oldest railway line will take you out of Lisbon and into Templar country, and the Vila Gale Tomar, once the 16^th century Convento de Santa Iria, will be your home-from-home in Tomar.