(also called La grosse tour) was a medieval fortress in Paris, in what is now the 3rd arrondissement. It was built around 1240 by the Knights Templar as their European headquarters and replaced the Vieille Temple (Old Temple) in Le Marais. Parts of the fort were used as prisons. The complex, the enclos du Temple, included a number of buildings serving the Order, including a church, a large tower (Grande Tour) and a smaller one (Petite Tour).

This fortified fortress consisted of a large square tower (13.5 × 13.5 m) and four slender round towers (diameter 5.5 m) at the corners of the large tower. The walls were 2.27 m thick, so the interior space was only 9.10 m.

The Great Tower had four floors and an attic. The central roof had the shape of a pyramid, the square circumference of which was smaller than the tower, so that a square walkway was created. The four corner towers had conical roofs. All were covered with slates and ornaments of lead. The height of the large tower was 50 m, that of the four corner towers was 5 m lower.

In the north-east corner tower there was a spiral staircase that provided access to the higher floors.

After the 15th century, a rectangular outbuilding (14.29 × 7.8 m) appears against the north side of the large tower. The first city plan on which this extension can be seen is the plan of Quesnel in 1609. The height of this ‘small tower’ as it was called, was ± 25 m without the two towers and 35 m with the towers.

The date is uncertain, but De Curzon suspects that the large tower was built before 1290