O Mundo de Claudia

The quest for the Graal in Tomar

Everytime I go to Tomar I visit the Church of Santa Maria do Olival (Our Lady of The Olive Trees). In every guidebook it says this was the mother church of all churches in Africa and Asia and it was the Templar Church. I was so disappointed whenever I went there because it's a very simple church with, what seemed then, no particular interest.

This time I was lucky enough to have a guided tour of the church with an expert! I saw a couple of things I never noticed and never saw written anywhere so I'm going to share them.

Take a look inside the church so that you can get a clearer picture.

The number 8 is a mystical one. It represents the infinite for has no beggining and no end. The octogonal shapes usually represent the link between God (the circle) and earth (the square). To enter the church you must climb down 8 steps. This is quite unusual but it could have two meanings: climbing down is a way of showinh humility; or as is said that the templars attended mass in horseback just in case they had to go to battle, it's far more easy for a horse to climb up when in a hurry than down.

There's a large stone on the far right corner that is said to be the entrance to a tunnel leading to another church (which used to be a nun monastery ;-) and to the castle. There is an octogonal shaped well outside the church that never had any practical purpose as it didn't have any water. A few locals poured gasoline into it and set it on fire only to prove that this well was only a way to let oxygen in for the tunnel. And in fact smoke appeared inside the church coming from under the stone.

Apprently there are people from all over the world who come here to pay devotion to an overlooked and forgotten (as far as I can see in any book or guide) pavement stone. They take their shoes off and step on the stone where something looking like a cup is carved so that they can "receive positive energies". They say Gualdim Pais (the 12th century founder of Tomar and Great Master of the Order of the Temple in Portugal) brought the Graal and hid it around here. I'm sure he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave a mark :-)

Funny thing happened (spooky some would say). There I was, with my mocking but healthy skepticism taking the picture of the supposed Graal, when my camera stopped working. It didn't work again until I left the church and entered the car.

More interesting speculation: the "charola" at the Convent of Christ is said to be a replica of the temple of Salomon in Jerusalem; on the other side of the river Cedron in Jerusalem, opposite to the temple was the Hill of the Olive Trees; here, on the other margin of the river Nabão is the church of Our Lady of the Olive Trees;

Here is a good site with information about the Knight Templars in Portugal. This one covers the evolution of the templars and their imprtance for the portuguese seafaring adventures.

This one has the 360º panorama of the Convent of Christ including the famous "Charola", mentioned on Umberto Eco' book "Foucault's Pendulum".

Published by claudia | TrackBack