The chapel of the Templar Commandery of the Dogon Templar

In the heart of the Blanzacais hills, in an old Templar commandery called "du Dognon", there was a chapel built in the middle of the 12th century.

It was restored at the beginning of the 20th century, three of the four walls still being covered with paintings representing the Crusaders' battles or mythical characters such as Geoffroy Martel, brother of Guillaume Taillefer.

The chapel respects the Cistercian rule, namely to gather "all the necessary things, namely: water, a mill, a garden, workshops in order to prevent the monks from going outside".

Recovered by the Hospitallers after the 1314 trial, the commandery was ruined by the 100-year war, the religious wars and the chapel sold as national property at the end of the 18th century to a farmer who rebuilt a roof to house his animals.

In 1902 the chapel was bought by the Protestant community of Barbezieux, which consolidated and restored it with stone replacements (vault, cornice, pilasters, portal arch, etc.). The Croix Cévenole certifies that it belongs to the Protestant parish.

The paintings on the east and west walls were restored by Miss Mesdrikoff who then glued the entire north wall to sheets from 1950 to 57. The resulting rolls were sent to national workshops for restoration. Then the whole painting was glued on a marine plywood to expose it for 10 years at the French Monuments Museum of the Trocadero. It was only at the end of the 1960s that the chapel recovered the decoration placed on mahogany wood latticework.

 

Temple Village

16250 Cressac Saint-Genis

Tel: 05 45 64 64 07 31

06 60 83 92 12

 

 

https://www.sudcharentetourisme.fr/fiche-sit/chapelle-des-templiers-5736852/

 


To go further....

Templiers en Poitou

L Ordre du Temple fut fondé à Jérusalem vers 1119 pour défendre les pèlerins du Saint-Sépulcre. En Occident, les dons affluèrent et permirent aux Templiers de fonder sur place de grandes exploitations agricoles plus tard appelées « commanderies » et qui fournissaient les biens nécessaires à l activité de l Ordre en Terre sainte. Poitiers était siège d une vaste province templière du sud-ouest de la France. La partie nord de ce territoire était gérée par la « baillie » d Auzon, aux portes de Châtellerault. La rencontre des Templiers poitevins avec les grands seigneurs de leur province nous entraînera jusqu en Terre sainte où nous assisterons en direct à l agonie glorieuse de Guillaume de Sonay, jeune précepteur de la baillie d Auzon devenu un prestigieux grand maître du Temple, mort dans les rangs de l armée de Saint Louis lors de la septième croisade en Égypte.

Also to be seen in the department

Cimetière médiéval de Ligné

The medieval cemetery, Templar site or not....

placeLigné – Charente 
label Archaeology and old stones Religious, mystical & pagan cults  

The underground church of St. John, a unique monument in Europe

placeAubeterre-sur-Dronne – Charente 
label Remarkable buildings Archaeology and old stones Religious, mystical & pagan cults  
Le Château de la Mercerie

The Château de la Mercerie, Versailles of Charente

placeMagnac-Lavalette-Villars - Charente 
label Remarkable buildings Records: The +'s and -'s Castles & Monuments  

Confolens, a medieval city with a very rich heritage

placeConfolens - Charente 
label cities and villages  

Discover the regions of the Great South