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A European project for Templars heritage

In 2012, the Department of Aube devoted its cultural year to the Templars, whose central event was the exhibition “Templars, an history, our treasureé” organized by the Departmental Council. It was during the international colloquium of this event that the Aubois and the Portuguese discussed for the first time the possibility of creating a European Cultural Route of the Templars.

 

While the department of Aube represents “the Alpha” of the route, the cradle of the Templars, the city of Tomar constitutes “the Omega”, the longest surviving site of the Order.

 

The history of the Temple Order is closely linked to the department. Hugues de Payns, a native of a village near Troyes, is the founder and first master of the Temple, an order recognized during the Council of Troyes in 1129. The rule of the Order was drawn up and adopted under the aegis of Bernard de Clairvaux. Champagne provided major figures of the Order of the Temple and the Crusades.

 

The city of Tomar, located in the heart of Portugal, was founded in 1160 as the headquarters of the Templars. It was the last provincial Templar seat in Europe. Listed by UNESCO as World Heritage, it preserves a Templar heritage in perfect condition, including the castle, the Convent of Christ and the tombs of the first Templars.

 

In 2014, to commemorate the 700 years of death at the stake of Jacques de Molay, last grand master of the Order of the Temple, the Dawn and Tomar decided to unite around the theme of the Templars and to create a European Cultural Route (ICE) entitled: “European Templar Route”.

 

To make this project a reality, the two territories created the Templars Route European Federation association in 2016.

To date, the members are:

 

The founding members

Departmental Council of Aube, France (2016)
City of Tomar, Portugal (2016)
City of Ponferrada, Spain (2017)
City of Perugia, Italy (2017)

 

Active members

Temple Church, London, United Kingdom (2018)
Association of « Friends of the History of Vianden », Luxembourg (2019)
City of Mesnil-Saint-Loup (Aube), France (2019)
Association of « Friends of the Commandery of Epailly (Côte-d’Or), France (2019)
Tourist Office of the Pays Châtillonnais (Côte-d’Or), France (2019)
Association « Mémoires d’Orient » (Grand-Est Region), France (2019)
Commandery of the Temple of Rugney (Vosges), France (2019)
Association of « Friends of the Commandery of the Temple of Jalès (Ardèche), France (2019)
Association « Hugues de Payns » (Aube), France (2019)
Association « Le Souffleur de Plume » (Vendeuvre-sur-Barse, Aube), France (2019)
Association « Templ’Anima », Portugal (2019)
City of Sainte-Eulalie of Cernon (Aveyron), France (2020)
Departmental Tourism Agency (Aube), France (2020)
City of Laon (Aisne), France (2021)
« Les Blancs-Manteaux » Company, France (2021)
The Beaucéant Project, Belgium (2021)
City of Troyes (Aube), France (2022)
City of Coulommiers (Seine-et-Marne), France (2022)
City of Saint-Julien-les-Villas (Aube), France (2022)
Association « The Commandery of Arville » (Loir-et-Cher), France (2022)
Festival Internazionale dei Templari, Alessandria, Italy (2022)
Via del Sale, from Perugia to Ancona, Italy (2022)

 

Associate members

Champagne Rémi Massin & Fils (Aube), France (2019)
L’Empreinte des Fées – Champagne Dumont (Aube), France (2019)
Commandery of San Filippo of Plano, Italy (2019)
City of Temple-sur-Lot (Lot-et-Garonne), France (2020)
Departmental Council of Touraine – Royal Fortress of Chinon, France (2021)
Commandery of Courval (Calvados), France (2022)

At the General Assembly in June 2020, Mrs. Anabela Freitas, Mayor of Tomar, was elected President for a 3-year term. (Portugal). She is assisted by the vice-presidency of Andrea ROMIZI, Mayor of Perugia (Italy) and Valéry DENIS, Vice-Chairman of the Aube Departmental Council and Co-Chairman of the Territorial Cohesion and Attractiveness / Tourism – Culture Commission (France).

On 17 October 2018, the members meeting in an extraordinary general assembly in Perugia, Italy, adopted statutes available in French.

Download the statutes

As presented in the statutes of Templars Route European Federation, the “association aims to bring together the territories and institutions of the member states of the Council of Europe, representing these territories (states, departments, intercommunalities, municipalities, associations, …) which were impacted by the presence of the Templars” around the following orientations:

 

  • Encourage exchanges by organizing meetings, symposia, publications related to universities, cultural institutions and history associations.
  • Promote and support actions to enhance the Templar heritage
  • Develop animation and promotion actions through the creation of exhibitions, artistic, cultural events and discovery circuits, particularly in the context of tourist, school and university exchanges.

 

As part of the European Cultural Routes program, the Templar Route undertakes to fulfill the following objectives:

 

  1. Cooperation in research and development
  2. Promotion of European memory, history and heritage
  3. Cultural and educational exchanges of young Europeans
  4. Contemporary practice of culture and the arts
  5. Cultural tourism and sustainable cultural development

The scientific committee guarantees the heritage legitimacy of the Route des Templiers as a European Cultural Route. It is responsible for validating the scientific information which is the subject of publication, enriching knowledge on the Templar ecosystem and developing international social, cultural and economic ties.

  • Honorary President: Alain DEMURGER, Honorary Lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France
  • President: Arnaud BAUDIN, Deputy Director at the Archives and Heritage Department of Aube, France

 

France

  • Mr Arnaud BAUDIN, Deputy Director of the Archives et Patrimoine de l’Aube, doctor in Medieval History
  • Mr Damien CARRAZ, professor at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
  • Mr Pierre-Vincent CLAVERIE, doctor in history, Cyprus Research Centre
  • Mr Alain DEMURGER, Honorary Lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
  • Mr François GILET, independent historian
  • Mr Philippe JOSSERAND, lecturer HDR at the University of Nantes
  • Mr Thierry LEROY, doctor in History
  • Mr Vincent MARCHAISSEAU, Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP)
  • Mr Jean MESQUI, castelologist, specialist in the fortified architecture of the Crusades
  • Mr Cédric ROMS, Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP)

 

Italy

  • Mrs Elena BELLOMO, doctor in History
  • Mr Gaetano CURZI, doctor in Art History and professor at the Università degli Studi G.D’Annunzio Chieti – Pescara
  • Mrs Sonia MERLI, doctor in History
  • Mr Loris NADOTTI, professor of Economic History at the Università degli Studi di Perugia
  • Mr Giuliano ROMALLI, ISCR Istituto superiore per la conservazione ed il restauro, Ministero dei Beni Culturali, Roma)
  • Mr Mirko SANTANICCHIA, doctor in Art History and professor at the Università degli Studi di Perugia
  • Mr Carlo TOSCO, professor of Landscape Architecture History at the Politecnico di Torino

 

Portugal

  • Mr Álvaro José BARBOSA, architect, graduate in Conservation of Architectural and Landscape Heritage from the University of Evora, curator of the Convent of Christ of Tomar
  • Mrs Maria João BRANCO, doctor in History and professor of Medieval History at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, New University of Lisbon
  • Mr Hermenegildo FERNANDES, doctor in history, University of Lisbon
  • Mr Ernesto JANA, teacher, historian at the “Olissiponenses” design office
  • Mr Gomes Martins MIGUEL, doctor in history and professor in medieval history at the CMLisboa and New University of Lisbon
  • Mr Joaquim NUNES, Templ’Anima Association
  • Mr Antonio Carlos MARTINS GODINHO, Licence’s degree in History with post- graduation in documentation sciences (Library and Documentation) at the University of Coimbra. Teacher and Librarian.

 

Spain

  • Mr Joan FUGUET I SANS, doctor and professor of history at the School of Conservation and Restoration of Catalonia
  • Mr Salvador REMIREZ VALLEJO, doctor in history and archaelogist, associate researcher at the Instituto de Estudios Riojanos

 

United Kingdom

  • Mrs Helen NICHOLSON, professor at Cardiff University (Wales)
  • Mr Nicholas MORTON, senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University (England)

 

Germany

  • Mr Karl BORCHARDT, professor at the University of Würzburg

 

Greece

  • Nikolaos CHRISSIS, assistant professor of Medieval European History at the Democritus University of Thrace
  • Mrs Ioanna CHRISTOFORAKI, fellow researcher, Research Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art (Academy of Athens)

 

Cyprus

  • Mr Nicholas COUREAS, researcher at the Cyprus Research Center, Department of History

 

Israel

  • Mrs Vardit SHOTTEN-HALLEL, archeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority

 

United States

  • Mr Sean L. FIELD, professor at the University of Vermont (Burlington)
  • Mr Jochen BURGTORF, professor at California State University (Fullerton)

Download here the charter of the scientific committee

Join the team !

Join us as associate member

 

Active or associate members are natural or legal persons, or institutions which have a direct relationship with the object of the association, and which want to be associated with the “Route des Templiers” project.