Knights Crusader and/or Templar traces near Constanta port (Eastern Romania) (Apr 23, 2007)

Apr 23, 2007 (Romania Report)

Recent research show actual Crusader/Templar imagery at the ‘Basarabi Cave Complex’ (Constanta County, Romania – some 240 Km distance from Bucharest). The Basarabi complex is an Early-Christian and Medieval archeological site located near the Black Sea coast.

Until now, the archeologists assumed that the Christian complex was dwelled starting the 9th until 11th century. However, as having in mind the rich Early-Christian life in Dobruja (starting with the 4th cent.) it is highly probable that the underground Basarabi complex was built earlier than the 9th cent. Likewise, the site might have been in use later than the 11th cent.

By closely examining various graffiti and embossed cross symbols in the C1 and C2 chambers (see photo), a recent paper by Mihai D. Popescu highlights some possible Crusaders’ imagery within the Basarabi limestone cave complex (therefore dating from the 12th and/or 13th centuries).

The presence of “cross pattée” and of the so-called “Jerusalem Cross” or the “Crusaders’ Cross” would put forward that the Basarabi complex would have been visited by Christians Knights during the 2nd and the 3rd Crusades.

According these recent findings, the ‘Association of the Temple of Jerusalem Knights of Romania’ (an NGO of the Grand Bailiwick of Romania under the mentorship of the Grand Priory of Italy) started an inter-cultural project to examine and re-assess the presence and the role played by the Christian Knights on the Romania’s territory as well as in the Balkan region.



Romania Report