The Templars fascinate literature and cinema for the aura of mystery that surrounds them, and they have also done important things in material history by inventing some of the banking techniques that we still use today: it was the necessity to sharpen their wits, the purpose was to better regulate the economic needs of pilgrims in the Holy Land. After centuries of honorable military and religious service for the Cross, the Templars have been erased from history, by the will of Philip the Fair of France, but not only his, given that the sentence was issued by a pope, and the other Christian kings (almost all) have queued.
Yet the story did not end here. We know that a small part of the Templars have had a bad end at the stake, but all the others? Some will have camouflaged themselves among the people, others have secretly merged into other chivalric orders, some have even taken refuge in the Islamic world, provoking howls of mocking joy over there for this historical nemesis. There is also the suspicion (a well-founded suspicion, although nothing is proven) that the main pole of attraction was the Scotland of King Robert the Bruce, a character who plays an important role in the film “Braveheart”. Wherever they have gone there are those who believe that they have nurtured esoteric traditions and that the thread has never broken and that it reaches our days.
Untangling this mixture of history and legends is difficult but fascinating. An opportunity to talk about it is the first edition of the International Templar Festival scheduled from 26 to 29 August in Alexandria, involving historians but also artists, to tell – with four evening meetings-shows and three afternoon academic lessons – the true story of the Templars , which will prove to be just as surprising as their legend and which still fascinates millions of people around the world today.
The International Templar Festival is also on FB and Instagram. @festivaldeitemplari
Free entry. Reservations required at the following email address: [email protected]
You enter with the Green Pass in compliance with the anti-Covid regulations in force.
Thursday 26th August
9.15 pm – Piazza Santa Maria di Castello, Alessandria
Conference-show The revolution of the Templars
Knights, monks, magicians … who were the Templars really? What were their symbols? What did their extraordinary rule prescribe? What is their paradox of being religious and at the same time soldiers?
Friday 27th August
5.30 pm – Conference Room of Palazzo Cuttica, via Parma 1, Alessandria
Meeting with Michel Balard: Lectio magistralis on The expansion of the Genoese in the Mediterranean
9.15 pm – Piazza Santa Maria di Castello, Alessandria
Conference-show The conspiracy
Who is the Enemy for the Templars? What was their relationship with Islam? Why did the French king Philip the Fair conspire against the Templars?
Saturday 28th August
5.30 pm – Conference Room of Palazzo Cuttica, via Parma 1, Alessandria
Meeting with Simonetta Cerrini, Philippe Josserand and Julien Théry, Templar Dialogues
9.15 pm – Piazza Santa Maria di Castello, Alessandria
Conference-show We who always ship
How does the wealth of the Templars reconcile with their choice of poverty? The Templars were also workers. How did they manage their economy? Did they really invent the bearer check?
Sunday 29th August
5.30 pm – Conference Room of Palazzo Cuttica, via Parma 1, Alessandria
Two video interviews on the Templars by Alessandro Barbero and Franco Cardini, presented by Simonetta Cerrini
9.15 pm – Piazza Santa Maria di Castello, Alessandria
Conference-show At the stake!
What was the real story of the Templar trial? Who was the last Grand Master of the Temple, Jacques de Molay? How did their legend develop?