Commanderie du Temple-sur-Lot

Le Temple-sur-Lot

The Templars settled at Agen around 1154, but it was on the banks of the Lot, at the end of the 12th century, that they built their real stronghold: the "Temple de Bruhles" soon gave its name to a whole village. The commandery prospered on gifts of land from the local lords, to the point of founding its own bastide in the 13th century, with its streets laid out in straight lines and its central square. The building visited today dates largely from the late 15th and early 16th centuries: a brick main dwelling flanked by a corner tower and a spiral-staircase tower, remodelled after being burnt during the Hundred Years' War. In the 16th and 17th centuries its Hospitaller owners – heirs to the Templar property after 1312 – reinforced the whole with an enclosure pierced with gun-ports, turning the old house of the Temple into a small rural fortress. To stroll across the place du Fort today is to walk in the footsteps of the knight-farmers who, here, made the lands of the Lot bear fruit to finance the crusades overseas, before the entire village came to keep their name for ever.

Getting there : Bastide of Le Temple-sur-Lot, 10 km west of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, place du Fort in the heart of the village.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound