Chwarszczany (GPS: N 52°41'15,1'' - E 14°38'31,8'')

The idea:

The route of Templars unites all people interested in this Order of Knights from Jerusalem through Chwarszczany, Litzen and Rurka to Paris, London and Tomar in Portugal.

Exchanging the information, contacts and publications.

Chwarszczany - Lietzen.
(The projects unite the Polish commune of Boleszkowice and German commune of Lietzen. The project involves cultural, educational and tourist events.)

Chwarszczany - Pielgrzymka.
(The section of the route leading towards Silesia. The historical research  explaining the presence of Templars in Pielgrzymka. Cultural, tourist and artistic contacts.)

Project Beaucent.
(Contact with French equivalent of our intention. The project deals with the problems connected with the activity of the Order of Knights in France and Europe. There will be Polish translation of the most attractive pages soon.)

Everyone may have impact on the content of some pages through WWW (www.templariusze.org) or e: mail.
Join and form the route. Don't hesitate.

Gallery - castles of the crusaders in the Holy Land (photo: archivum)

The Poor knights of Christ, Brothers - the Guards of the Temple.

The order of knights was formed in 1119 in the Holy Land by Hugo de Payns to defend pilgrims from Saracens and robbers and to protect roads to Holy Places. They received a residence from Jerusalem king Baldwin II which was placed nearby the Temple of Salomon. Since that time they have been called Knights of Temple - Templars.
Through the support of Bernard de Clairvaux the activities of Templars were finally legitimized on the synod in Troyes in 1128. The rule based on holy orders pledging purity, obedience and the following four adjacent to the status of a monk.
The knights were obliged to wear a white coat with a Latin red cross on it and their force standard called "ganfanon baucent" was black and white. Soon after the synod in Troyes, as a result of skillfully carried the propaganda action out, the Templars received various bestowals in the Holy Land and Europe. The maintenance of the Holy Land would be impossible without the orders of knights and their strongholds. Unfortunately they permanently needed expenditure of money. On the Iberian Peninsula the situation looked the same. The system of commandery had its help from the inside of Europe and also Poland. Templars had their profits from farmlands and farm animals. They had patronage over churches, took customs fees and gathered alms for crusades.
They dealt with trading and financial transaction on a large scale. The reason of Templars'undoing was the belief of their wealth.
In 1307 the king of France Philip the Fair, counting on taking over Templars legendary treasure, ordered to arrest all Templars living in France. In 1312 the pope Clement V dissolved the order of knights and on 18th March the last knight J. de Molay was burnt at the stake.

Templars received the best bestowal in Poland from two great antagonists. They were called: the Silesian prince Henry Brodaty and Władysław Odonicz - the prince of Wielkopolska (middle part of Poland) and the prince of Pomerania (north western region of Poland) - Barnim I. Beside them other Templars'donors were princes from Poland and late bishopric of Lubusz: Przemysl, Bolesław and Przemysl II from Wielkopolska, Bolesław from Mazowsze (region in middle Poland), Bolesław II and Henryk III from Silesia, and princes from Brandenburg: OttoIV, Konrad I, Otto V and Otto VI, Włost, Mroczek from Pogorzela and the widow of Peter from Lank.
The intention of those benefactors was the protection of the border from invasions, robbery and colonization action. Naming the places "tempel" shows there might have been such action - it might also mean the name was given by Templars or carried on German Law. Templars'goods belonged to the German province according to the administrative law but they also stood for separate preceptory within it with its seat in Oleśnica Mała (Silesia), Chwarszczany, Leśnica (Lietzen), Rurka. There were probably nine commanderies with their seats in Chwarszczany, Oleśnica Mała, Rurka, Leśnica, Wielowieś, Wałcz, Myślibórz, Czaplinek - the evidence of which were found in reliable source - and probably in Sulęcin in which the architecture is very similar to this in Ostrów and Chwarszczany and the location of the town. The seats of Templars in Poland had the shape of large buildings occupying plain hills and bends of rivers among swamps. In this way the seats in Rurka and in Wielowieś were discovered. Within (...) there were mostly farming buildings found. There is no evidence of other buildings existence which is probably the effect of their weak architecture. It may be assumed the buildings were destined to be used as stables and cowsheds. Zbigniew Radecki on the basis of the architecture of Templar Castle in Voulaine showed the universal pattern of the founding of this order. According to his theory those buildings were divided into two courtyards - one for living and one for farming. He also claims that in Chwarszczany the two courtyards were joined into one.
The researches show that in Western Europe Templars'founding had the architecture of Cistercians'grange - the new system of agriculture. They were built on a square or rectangular places. The two magnificent buildings - the chapel and the building consisting of large halls were situated on opposite sides, one on the north and the other on the south side of the courtyard
The foundings in Chwarszczany and in Rurka, where two chapels were moved-one to the north side and the other to the south side of the courtyard, confirmed the conviction. It means that the large hall should be found on the opposite side which is for Chwarszczany on the south and for Rurka on the north. This conviction is presumably true due to the fact the portals are situated on these two sides.

The chapel of Templars on Chwarszczany

Originally it was the castle chapel of Templars and then of Joanits. The building was erected in gothic style in 90s in 13th century. After the seven year war damages the chapel was rebuilt and restored in 1870-1899. The chapel includes relicts of earlier Roman chapels from the half of 13th century at the bottom part of fasade. It is the structure erected on a square plan closed to eastern side. The inside is covered with a cross-zebra vault supported on round wall little locks. The lump of temple is based on massive sluices substituted for cylindrical bonds covered with cupolas. The building comes from French castle chapels and is considered to stand for the copy of the Holy Grave of the Temple of Solomon. The inside is filled with gothic paintings from 1400 and restored nowadays.

Text: Błażej Skazinski and Maciej Salanski
Translation: Sebastian Grzyb