Historic town centre of Tomar, laid out by the Templars in the 12th century on a site of seven hills. The city served as Templar headquarters in Portugal under Grand Master Gualdim Pais and later became the seat of the renamed Order of Christ.
About This Site
Tomar is a historic city in central Portugal, laid out by the Knights Templar in the 12th century on a site of seven hills, mirroring the sacred geography of Rome and Jerusalem. The city became the Templar headquarters in Portugal under Gualdim Pais, who was knighted by King Afonso Henriques and returned from a successful military campaign in the Holy Land in 1157 to become the fourth Grand Master of the Portuguese Templars. Some researchers believe the order's most sacred religious treasures were hidden in the city during the height of Templar power.
When King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V disbanded the Knights Templar across Europe in 1307, thousands of knights were arrested, tortured, and executed, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay. However, several hundred Templars fled to Scotland and Portugal, carrying priceless religious artifacts with them. In Portugal, King Dinis protected the order by renaming it the Knights of Christ in 1319, allowing its members to continue operating under a new identity. Over time the Templar cross evolved into an elongated form that bears a resemblance to the configuration of Nolan's Cross on Oak Island.
Connection to Oak Island
In Season 9, the team visited Tomar as part of their Portuguese research trip with Corjan Mol and Joao Fiandeiro. The city's significance to the Oak Island investigation lies in its role as the operational centre of the Portuguese Templars, the order that researchers believe may have had the means, motive, and navigational capability to reach Nova Scotia centuries before Columbus. The statue of Gualdim Pais in the town square commemorates the Grand Master who established Tomar as the Templar headquarters, and the evolution of the Templar cross into the elongated form used by the Order of Christ mirrors the shape of Nolan's Cross on Oak Island. The team's visit placed the broader pattern of Portuguese Templar activity in geographic context, connecting the symbolic evidence found at Fonte Arcada, the Convento de Cristo, and the Roman Road of Alqueidao da Serra to the organisation's administrative and spiritual capital.
Fieldwork Notes
Visited during Season 9 by Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, Corjan Mol, and Joao Fiandeiro. The team toured the historic town centre and the statue of Grand Master Gualdim Pais, documenting the Templar layout of the city and the evolution of the Templar cross into the Order of Christ form resembling Nolan's Cross.
