Commanderie de la Villedieu, Templar Commandery in Élancourt, France
The Commanderie de la Villedieu is a Templar commandery with a chapel and surrounding agricultural buildings arranged around a central courtyard. The structures display Gothic features such as pointed-arch windows characteristic of their era.
The site was founded between 1150 and 1180 by the Knights Templar and served as an operational base for their activities. The commandery played a role in the order's infrastructure during the Middle Ages.
The chapel shows how medieval craftspeople shaped stone and created spatial proportions that still impress today. The place conveys through its architecture a sense of the daily life of the order's knights and their community.
The grounds can be explored on foot and are relatively manageable in size. Visitors should allow time to view the buildings and surrounding areas at a comfortable pace.
A stone carved with a Templar cross was discovered during renovation work in the 1970s and once marked the boundaries of the large estate. This find shows that such markers served a practical purpose in protecting and managing the lands.
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