Cistercian abbey founded in 1134 as a daughter house of Morimond Abbey in Burgundy. Its scriptorium produced over 100 manuscripts in the 13th century, and its walls contain four-dot crosses and Templar symbols matching those found on Oak Island.
About This Site
Morimondo Abbey is a Cistercian monastery founded in 1134 in the commune of Morimondo, southwest of Milan in Lombardy, Italy. Established as a daughter house of Morimond Abbey in Burgundy, France, it became one of the most important Cistercian foundations in northern Italy. The abbey's scriptorium was a major centre of manuscript production during the 13th century, creating over 100 texts that preserved and transmitted religious, scientific, and navigational knowledge across the Cistercian network. The connection between the Cistercian and Templar orders is historically significant: both were championed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote the Rule of the Knights Templar and was instrumental in securing papal recognition for the order. Cistercian abbeys frequently served as centres of learning where Templar scholars studied, and the two orders maintained close institutional ties throughout the medieval period.
Connection to Oak Island
In Season 11, Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, and Peter Fornetti toured the abbey with Emiliano Sacchetti and archaeoastronomer Professor Adriano Gaspani, with interpreter Marzia Sebastiani. Before entering, Emiliano drew attention to exterior ceramic vessels, and Doug spotted two four-dot crosses matching the H/O stone found on Oak Island's northern shore in the 1920s.
Inside the abbey, whose nave stretches 60 metres by 13 metres with eight large pillars on each side, the team found a Templar cross on the ceiling. In the scriptorium, mid-13th-century paintings by Cistercian monks revealed a Tree of Life symbol matching one seen at the Templar prison in Domme, France, with a four-dot cross on the reverse side of the same pillar. Rick noticed oak leaves in one painting and wondered whether knowledge of foreign plants was being recorded, raising the question of whether the monks' work was intended for only a select audience. Professor Gaspani declared he was convinced Nolan's Cross was built by a Knight Templar or a Cistercian monk, noting that both orders shared the same founder in St. Bernard of Clairvaux and that Templar scholars often studied in Cistercian abbeys. Emiliano later noted that the scriptorium's 13th-century manuscript tradition eventually reached as far as Iceland through the Cistercian monastic network.
Fieldwork Notes
Visited during Season 11 by Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, and Peter Fornetti, guided by Emiliano Sacchetti and Professor Adriano Gaspani with interpreter Marzia Sebastiani. The team documented four-dot crosses on the exterior, a ceiling Templar cross, Tree of Life paintings in the scriptorium matching Domme prison carvings, and oak leaf imagery that may represent knowledge of foreign plants.
