Segovia · Outside city walls · Spain

Iglesia de la Vera Cruz

churchKnights TemplarRomanesquegoogle verified

moderate

9/10

best: morning, spring

mysterious, historic, contemplative

A local would say...

The Knights Templar built this 12-sided church to mirror Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre — and hid a piece of the True Cross inside it for centuries.

This 12-sided church is one of the best-preserved Templar churches in Europe. Built in the early 13th century by the Knights Templar and modelled on Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it once housed a piece of the Vera Cruz (True Cross), now resting in a nearby village church. Sitting alone outside Segovia's walls against a backdrop of the Alcázar, its setting is as striking as its architecture.