THE CITY - London - page 164

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TEMPLE
Temple. MAP
Temple is the largest and most complex of the Inns of Court , where, since medieval times,
every aspiring barrister in England and Wales has had to study in order to qualify for the bar.
Despite the fact that only a few very old buildings survive here, the overall atmosphere is
like that of an Oxbridge college and the maze of courtyards and passageways is fun to ex-
plore - especially after dark, when Temple is gas-lit.
Medieval students ate, attended lectures and slept in the Middle Temple Hall (Mon-Fri
10-11.30am and 3-4pm; free), still the Inn's main dining room. Constructed in the 1560s,
the hall provided the setting for many great Elizabethan masques and plays - probably in-
cluding Shakespeare's Twelfth Night , which is believed to have been premiered here in
1602. The hall is worth a visit for its fine hammerbeam roof, wooden panelling and decorat-
ive Elizabethan screen.
The complex's oldest building, Temple Church (Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri 11am-4pm, Wed
2-4pm; £4; www.templechurch.com ) was built in 1185 by the Knights Templar, the milit-
ary monks who protected pilgrims heading for the Holy Land. Despite wartime damage, the
original round church - modelled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - still stands, with its
striking Purbeck-marble piers, recumbent marble effigies of knights, and tortured grotesques
grimacing in the spandrels of the blind arcading. The church features in both the topic and
the film of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.