Templar headquarters in Portugal, founded in 1160. The iconic round church (Charola) and fortified convent complex contain carved stone hands marking underground aqueduct channels whose construction mirrors the finger drains found at Smith's Cove on Oak Island.
About This Site
The Convento de Cristo is the former castle and convent of the Knights Templar in Tomar, Portugal, founded on the first of March 1160. The complex includes the iconic Charola, a sixteen-sided round church modelled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which served as the Templars' most sacred place of worship in Portugal. The fortified convent grew over centuries through additions by the Order of Christ, the successor organisation that King Dinis created in 1319 to preserve the Templar tradition in Portugal. The complex features Manueline, Gothic, and Renaissance architectural elements, and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A massive aqueduct system once supplied water to the castle through a network of underground channels, an engineering achievement that demonstrated the order's advanced hydraulic knowledge.
Connection to Oak Island
In Season 9, Corjan Mol led Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, and Peter Fornetti through the convent, which Corjan described as what the Templars considered their New Jerusalem. Joao Fiandeiro explained the castle's founding date of 1160 and its role as the spiritual heart of the Portuguese Templar order.
Corjan showed the group a series of carved stone hands with unusual middle fingers, five or six of which are placed throughout the convent to indicate where the underground aqueducts run. He drew a direct comparison to the finger drains discovered on Oak Island in 1850 by the Truro Company at Smith's Cove, where five drains made of flat stones covered with capstones converged into a single tunnel heading toward the Money Pit. When Rick asked whether the formations matched, Corjan confirmed that the Convento de Cristo system uses square pipes with capstones, the same construction technique found at Smith's Cove. At the original gate of the castle, Corjan pointed out a Templar cross carved above the entrance arch and, below it, a stone bearing a cross with four dots identical to a symbol on the H/O stone from Oak Island.
Fieldwork Notes
Visited during Season 9 by Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, Corjan Mol, and Joao Fiandeiro. The team documented carved stone hands marking underground aqueduct routes (matching Smith's Cove finger drain construction), a Templar cross above the gate, and a four-dot cross identical to the H/O stone symbol. Corjan confirmed the square-pipe-with-capstone construction matches the Oak Island drains.
