Tour of Tomar
The Night Templars
350€ for 4 people
For tours of 5 or 6 people, an extra fee is applied
“Tomar”, the medieval city of 1160 and the legend of the Templars.
On the “Tomar” tour, the traveler takes an unbelievable journey back in time, delighting himself with the famous Convento de Cristo (12th - 18th century), which includes the enigmatic “Oratory of the Templars” called “Charola" of templars ”, the brands of the low relief templars engraved on the stone, the medieval drawings reproducing São Cristóvão, symbolizing the passage from earthly life to the next life, as well as the Chapter Window, considered by many to be the most beautiful in Portugal.
The origin of the Templars goes back to the year 1099 when Jerusalem is taken by the armies of the second Crusade to Palestine. About 20 years later, nine knights from France and Burgundy form a brotherhood for the purpose of protecting pilgrims on the dangerous paths between the port of Acre and Jerusalem. In 1128 this brotherhood was recognized as a monastic-military order with the name of Militia of the Poor Knights of Christ.
The Knights Templar (or Knights of the Temple of Solomon) came to Portugal in 1128. In 1159 they received from King D. Afonso Henriques, for their participation in the conquests of Santarém and Lisbon (1147), a vast territory. In this region and as a result of this donation Mestre D. Gualdim Pais, crusader and grandmaster of the Templars, founded in 1160 the Castle and the Village of Tomar. In 1312, due to persecutions against the Templars by the King of France, Philip IV, the Order was extinguished by Pope Clement V.
However, King D. Diniz with art and intelligence manages to keep the Knights and the assets of the Templars, circumscribed to the national territory and thus the new Order of Christ's cavalry was born, with the same spirit and rules identical to those of the extinct order of the Temple, maintaining great military discipline and logistical organization.
This tour also includes a visit to the historic Aqueduct of Pegões. In 1593 D. Filipe I (Filipe II of Spain) ordered the aqueduct to be built in order to supply the Convento de Cristo. The work was completed in 1614 and has a length of 6 kilometers. It consists of 180 arches, some overlapping) and reaches up to 30 meters in height.
As well as the passage through the medieval castle of Almourol (1171), an important landmark in the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. First it belonged to the Knights of the Order of the Templars and then to the Knights of the Order of Christ.
