Kommende Tempelhof

The Komturei Tempelhof was a commandery of the Knights Templar on the Teltow plateau south of Berlin. Founded around 1200, it included the villages of Tempelhof, Mariendorf and Marienfelde, plus a farm that later became Rixdorf. The Templars built a fortified manor house at the edge of Tempelhof village, with a church at its centre that still serves as the village church today. After the Templars were dissolved in 1312, the property passed to the Knights of St John in 1318 and then to Berlin-Cölln in 1435. The manor’s main building became a local government office in the late 19th century before being demolished around 1890. The commandery’s position on the high Teltow plateau gave it a commanding view over the surrounding countryside. The Templars received roughly 200 hides of woodland and farmland, much of it uninhabited, and laid out new villages from scratch. Four lakes once surrounded the manor house, though only two remain in what are now the Alter Park and Lehnepark. The church still marks the centre of the original Templar complex, while the vanished lakes include one beneath today’s Reinhardtplatz. Visitors to Tempelhof find the medieval church standing on its original site, surrounded by the modern village streets. The two remaining lakes in Alter Park and Lehnepark offer quiet spots to walk, while the former village green retains the outline of the Templar manor’s defences. The straight eastern boundaries of Tempelhof, Mariendorf and Marienfelde still show the Templars’ planned settlement pattern. The church’s thick walls and small windows recall its dual role as fortress and place of worship.