NARRATOR: July, 1099 AD.
Muslim-controlled Jerusalem is captured
by medieval Christian forces.
The bloody siege leaves the city ransacked
by the victorious crusaders.
But spared from destruction are two mosques that have stood
on Temple Mount for 400 years.
These holy sites were saved to serve another purpose.
The dome of the rock is converted
into a Catholic Church.
And the Al-Aqsa mosque is given to a newly formed monastic
fighting force, the Order of Solomon's Temple, also
known as the Knights Templar.
This was a holy order of knights
who were interested in the safety
of travelers going from Europe to Jerusalem to the temple.
And they would guard them and they
would protect their wealth.
They, essentially, invented banking as a way
to protect travelers from highwaymen.
NARRATOR: But protecting pilgrims
was not the Templars' only directive while
stationed at Temple Mount.
They were also charged with searching for treasure
and religious artifacts.
The Knights Templars got a commission from the Pope
to actually do excavations at Solomon's temple.
And the Templars, that is largely what they did
while they were in Jerusalem.
The story there goes that the Templars
actually discovered a secret chamber beneath the temple.
They claim to have found all sorts of holy relics.
And we know they found certain things, because they
became very rich very quickly.
But legend said that amongst all these things they found
was the Ark of the Covenant.
NARRATOR: On July 4th, 1187, the Knights Templar
were forced to leave Jerusalem when Muslim armies
retook the Holy City.
The Templars set sail for Europe.
And it was rumored that they carried with them
the holy relics they had recovered
at Temple Mount, including the Ark of the Covenant.
By the end of the 13th century, the Knights Templar
had established a new base of operations in France.
I do believe that the Templars did find the Ark
and successfully transported it to Paris,
where they were hailed as heroes.
For some reason, overnight, nobles
were trying to join the order.
The King of France was promoting them.
I believe the reason for that is because they succeeded
in their mission to find the Ark, which is why they
were there in the first place.
NARRATOR: The Templars used their vast wealth
to finance the construction of Chartres Cathedral, one
of the finest examples of Gothic-style architecture
in the world.
And it was rumored that the cathedral
had a direct connection to the Ark of the Covenant.
In 1966, in a book called "The Mysteries of Chartres
Cathedral," Louis Charpentier claimed
that the Templars had indeed found this holy object
and it brought it back to France and that this had some way
inspired the design of Chartres Cathedral, which embodied
many principles of sacred geometry, mathematical ideas
that had been brought over from the Sufi and Islamic peoples
of the Holy Land.
Sufism included a lot of ideas relating
to sacred architecture.
This was how to design the perfect house of God.
NARRATOR: Some believe that the Knights Templar actually
built this breathtaking cathedral to house
the Ark of the Covenant.
And they point to one very credible
source that claims the Ark was deposited here,
the cathedral itself.
Carvings on the north portico depict the Templars recovering
the Ark of the Covenant, then carrying it off,
led by an angel with God hidden overhead in a cloud.
Inscribed in Latin text are the words "Here is hidden,
the Ark of the Covenant."