The presence of the Knights Templar in Aragon and the traces it left across the region are the focus of a new project by Zaragoza-based director Elena Cid. The filmmaker has completed the first phase of shooting for Hidden History: Templars, a documentary that visits different sites across the region and brings together historians, archaeologists, scientists, and heritage specialists to examine one of the best-known—and yet most enigmatic—chapters of the Middle Ages.
The film, the Aragonese director’s third, combines historical and scientific research with a journey through sites linked to the Templars’ presence. Following this first phase, work will continue in the coming months with further research both in Spain and abroad.
Aragon was an important center of the Knights Templar on the Iberian Peninsula, and part of that past endures in historical documents, buildings, and traditions. The documentary draws on this evidence to examine the Order’s reach in the region, while also exploring the mysteries and narratives that have been built around the Templars over time.
Research is one of the production’s main pillars. Participating experts include historian Anabel Lapeña; art historian Antonia Buisán; medieval history professor Carlos Laliena; historian and popularizer Sergio Martínez; writer and historian José Antonio Adell; and Pedro Luis Hernando, director of the Mudéjar Studies Center at the Teruel Studies Institute.
They are joined by archaeologist and historian Javier Ibáñez, scientists Pilar López Ram de Viu and Francisco Torcal, and Alfredo Sánchez-Rubio, dean of the Zaragoza Bar Association. Music will also feature in the narrative through the participation of musician and composer Jeansy Aúz.
From Zaragoza to the Maestrazgo
Filming turns a range of locations across Aragon into part of the narrative. In Zaragoza, the team has worked at the university campus and in several areas of the Old Town, including Temple Street, where the Order’s headquarters in the city once stood. The Municipal Archive and the Hospital of Our Lady of Grace are among the other locations included in the film.
The production also extends beyond the regional capital. Huesca, Monzón, and the Teruel section of the Maestrazgo form part of a journey combining interviews with experts, consultation of historical records, and fieldwork.
This geographic dimension enables the documentary to use Aragonese heritage not merely as a backdrop, but as one of the sources for reconstructing the Templars’ presence. The aim is to distinguish between historical evidence and the broad body of legends and mysteries that has surrounded the Order for centuries.
Hidden History: Templars is produced by Disentropic Film and supported by the Department of Culture of the Government of Aragon, Aragón TV, and public funding including, among other sources, the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE).
With the first phase of filming complete, the project is now entering a new stage of research. The final work will seek to reconstruct, from Aragon, a story that transcends its borders and continues to generate interest centuries after the disappearance of the Knights Templar.
