The Convent of Christ, Tomar

Where Portugal’s Templars outlived their own suppression under a new name

A castle the Knights Templar raised on a hill above the river Nabão around 1160 under their master Gualdim Pais, which held out against the army of the caliph Abu Yusuf al-Mansur around 1190. Its round church, the Charola, follows the Dome of the Rock and the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: sixteen sides outside, an octagon within, its walkway painted and crowded with saints under Gothic canopies. When the Templars were suppressed across most of Europe, Portugal did something different. At King Denis’s request Pope John XXII created the Order of Christ in 1319, the Templars’ members and property passed into it, and in 1357 Tomar became its seat. Its most famous master, Prince Henry the Navigator, led the order from 1417 to 1450, and it backed Portugal’s voyages of discovery. The Window of the Chapter House, a riot of carved ropes and coral, is one of the masterworks of the Manueline style. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. Tomar, Portugal.