Commanderie et église de Bure-les-Templiers

Bure-les-Templiers

The village's very name says it all: Bure-les-Templiers owes its suffix to the first commandery founded by the Order of the Temple in Burgundy, around 1133, according to a charter of the Bishop of Langres. Seat of a bailiwick on which numerous houses depended, it was important enough for nineteen brothers of the Temple to bear the surname "de Bure" in the Order's archives. Today, the former chapel still serves as the parish church: inside, a funerary slab still shows the cross pattée and the engraved tools of a Templar brother, while a tomb preserves the memory of Guillaume de Fougerolles, a 14th-century Hospitaller commander who succeeded the Templars after 1312. The outbuildings met a more painful fate: in 1958, treasure hunters set off dynamite there in search of a hypothetical Templar hoard, leaving the place drained of life. Since 2006, an association of enthusiasts has been patiently restoring what can be restored, bringing back to life one of the little-known cradles of the Order on Burgundian soil.

Getting there : Village in the Châtillonnais, 15 km south of Châtillon-sur-Seine, near Voulaines-les-Templiers.

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

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