Temple du Marais

Look up at the curved Baroque facade in front of you. François Mansart designed this building in 1632 as a Catholic convent chapel. But long before that, this whole neighbourhood was shaped by a group of warrior monks most people have heard of but few can actually explain.

The Knights Templar were a medieval military order, founded to protect Christian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. They became enormously powerful and fabulously rich. In the 12th century, they drained swamps and cleared forests right here in the Marais, making this district livable for the first time. Without them, this neighbourhood simply would not exist.

Then came Friday the 13th, October 1307. King Philip IV of France, deep in debt to the Templars, had every single member arrested simultaneously. Their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. As the flames rose, he cursed the king and the pope, predicting both would die within the year. They did. Both of them.

The Templars' tower once stood nearby. In 1792, King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children were imprisoned inside it, behind walls nearly 3 metres thick. After Louis was executed, their young son was left alone in that tower.

And now a Protestant congregation sings here in French, Arabic, Japanese, and African languages. History moves in strange directions.