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Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Canon version of this subject.  This article covers the Legends version of this subject. 

The Temple district, also known as the Temple Precinct or Temple Court, was a series of city blocks on Coruscant jointly overseen by the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic until 19 BBY when the Declaration of a New Order dissolved the Order and the district was seized by the Galactic Empire. Established circa 5000 BBY when the Republic donated the sacred spire to the Order for their participation in the Great Hyperspace War, the early Jedi set up small facilities which eventually expanded over the centuries and was later known as the Jedi Temple. Following the district's total ruin during the Yuuzhan Vong War, it was reconstructed under the Galactic Alliance and home to the Jedi Temple once more.

History[]

Following the Great Hyperspace War, the Galactic Republic granted the Jedi Order use of the sacred spire, a holy site for the local Coruscanti located to the north of the Senate District, for the construction of a great bastion from which they could repel the threats that would plague the Republic.[1] However, much to the disappointment of the Galactic Senate, the Order simply established a small meditation enclave, unlike to the great fortresses on Ossus or Falang Minor.[8]

Yet once a group of Four Masters pioneered the construction of a Jedi academy on the planet, the area became more developed and began to take the shape seen across the city-planet. The area around the mountain was part of the ancient city built on the crust. To bring the area up to the crust, the builders of the Temple sunk giant pylons deep into the planet to support the kilometers tall bloc that would serve as platform for the Temple. Giant heaps of trash would accumulate around the pylons over the centuries as the area was abandoned for use by the Order. Buildings were erected on the platform resting atop the pylons, becoming occupied by citizens of Galactic City.[9] At long last, the expanding area reached the top level where the Temple was to rest. For kilometers, the city blocs did not rise beyond that of Sacred Spire, ensuring that the Temple could be seen from great distances.[1] The top of the bloc that encompassed the main portion of the Sacred Spire was landscaped and came to be known as the Temple Court, dotted with bronzium statues of great Jedi Masters.[3]

JediTemple-Deceived

The Jedi Temple, the center point of the district

In 3653 BBY, the Temple suffered its first great tragedy. The resurgent Sith Empire emerged from hyperspace and began the onslaught that would come to be known as the Sacking of Coruscant. Greatly damaged and left abandoned, the Senate deemed reconstruction too expensive for a war time budget, forcing the Order to relocate to its homeworld, Tython.[3] Eventually, the district and Temple came to be reoccupied no later than 1000 BBY and the Ruusan Reformation.[10]

While the Jedi Temple had finished expanding, the district was largely undeveloped below its "surface", or the highest level. Below the Temple Court and in neighboring city blocs, the Order built training facilities and hangar bays that serviced the Temple. Additionally, a mooring tower was built to accommodate larger ships arriving at the Temple.[1] Sublevel hangars were built for personal transports as well as for the delivery craft that supplied the Order's members with food that could not be grown at the Temple.[11][12] Water and electricity were pumped through the district to the Temple and its other facilities by the Republic and all future governments, while back-up generators could sustain the complex for several weeks.[13]

The district would continue to service the Order and the local Coruscanti that occupied the areas not used by the Order. During the Clone Wars which began in 22 BBY, the Temple district saw more activity as the Grand Army of the Republic made use of some of the sublevel hangars. Additional facilities were built to support the influx of military supplies moving in and out of the Temple, including several turbolifts and new hangars.[9]

When the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic was revealed to be the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the Order's leaders attempted to arrest him, but failed in the attempt. In order to wipe out the Order, Sidious sent the 501st Legion, under the command of Sith apprentice Darth Vader, to subjugate the Temple. Suffering damage wrought by Low Altitude Assault Transports, the district was completely locked down and sealed by order of the first Galactic Empire's leader, Galactic Emperor Palpatine.[14] Government buildings were occupied by clones, while the museum district was bombed. Many of the residents and business owners fled the fighting on fight, never to return to their properties.[15] Promoting Imperial propaganda implementing the Order in a treasonous plot to overthrow the Republic, Moff Marcellin Wessel compiled a report in which the public would be "informed" of the ways in which the Jedi planned to take the reins of liberty. Within, Moff Wessel described the execution of Jedi Whie Malreaux, who had been in the process of manipulating the minds of the district's citizens.[6]

Lying abandoned throughout the Galactic Civil War, the district would eventually fall into utter disrepair during the occupation of Coruscant by the Yuuzhan Vong.[16] Several years later following the Galactic Alliance's retaking of the capitol, Chief of State Cal Omas donated a new Temple to the reformed Jedi Order in thanks for their sacrifices during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Built by the Reconstruction Authority, the Temple and district were meticulously restored to their state before the Galactic Empire dismantled the Order. In an attempt to demonstrate the alliance between the Senate, Order, and the Yuuzhan Vong, the Authority created several public areas around the Temple bloc. On the Temple's west side, that which contained the main entrance and the broad Processional Way, the Authority erected Fellowship Plaza as a way of connecting the Temple and the Galactic Justice Center which loomed two blocs away.[17] Several kilometers to the north of the Temple was the Senate Building and the newly erected Unity Green and Liberation Lake occupied the nearby blocs.[2] Additional security was added to the Temple bloc's outer walls which allowed evacuation routes into the neighboring blocs as well as into the skylanes that separated the kilometers-tall structures.[18]

In 43 ABY, Knight Jysella Horn, who was overcome with an enigmatic madness inflicting Knights at random, darted across the district having escaped the Jedi Archives. Leaving her pursuers behind her, Horn's fellow Jedi Yaqeel Saav'etu and Bazel Warv attempted to stop her before she hurt the pedestrians who milled about shops and courtyards in the district. Unable to detain Horn, the ill Jedi was ultimately arrested by Coruscant Security Forces and frozen in carbonite per instruction from Chief of State Natasi Daala. Shortly after, Jedi Saav'etu and Warv were walking from Fellowship Plaza when they contracted the same illness and had to be detained by Jedi Jaina Solo in a speeder garage. Hoping to avoid further arrests by the government, Jedi Leia Organa Solo devised a plan to evacuate the infected Jedi aboard FloatVans docked in lower level hangars and transport them to the Jedi facility in the Transitory Mists. With the help of Jedi Avinoam Arelis and Jaden Korr, Solo was successful in getting the infected Jedi away from Coruscant, despite the interference by Mandalorians stationed at the Krabbis Inn under Fellowship Plaza.[17] With the Order not cooperating with the Alliance, Chief Daala ordered the district's water and electrical supply to be turned off until the time when they wished to submit to her authority.[13]

Layout[]

Chris Trevas ItWoE2 map

The city blocks surronding the Temple Ziggurat.

The Temple district was a Coruscant administrative district jointly controlled by the galactic government and the Jedi Order. While the residents within the district answered to the laws laid down by the government, the Jedi had sovereign control of the Jedi Temple.[13] Made up of several city blocs, the district could be split up into two distinct parts: the city block upon which the Temple rested and all the other public, private, and residential spaces that surrounded it. A busy region of the city, the Precinct was home to hundreds of private residential blocks, an entertainment district, a museum and education district, and commercial districts with shops and restaurants catering to the wealthy bureaucrats that lived in the area.[15]

First seeing development circa 5000 BBY, the area on the slopes of and around the Sacred spire would grow steadily upward until each bloc's roof reached "surface level", creating a great flat plain around the Temple. Largely remaining low to the tops of the buildings roofs, later construction was largely done below the upper surface,[1] with the exception of the mooring towers built near and around the Temple complex.[5]

Appearances[]

Non-canon appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

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