Jedi Temple

The Jedi Temple (also known as the Palace of the Jedi) was the headquarters of the Jedi Order from the conclusion of the Great Sith War to the Great Jedi Purge and during that time was home to its major training, bureaucratic and dormitory facilities. Jointly operated by the Order and the Galactic Republic, the Temple was sealed to all but the Jedi and their allies, with very few public areas. The complex would be abandoned and largely destroyed at the time of the Declaration of a New Order when the Order was utterly routed by the Galactic Empire. Upon the rise of the Galactic Alliance, the Temple was rebuilt for the reformed Order under the leadership of Luke Skywalker.

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The Coruscant Temple's origins date back to 5,000 BBY when, at the beginning of the Great Hyperspace War, the Galactic Republic granted the Jedi land on Coruscant over a sacred mountain, which contained a Force nexus. A holy place for the local Coruscanti, the Republic hoped by granting the Order land they would build a massive fortress like those they had established on Ossus, Falang Minor, and Haashimut. However, the Order did not wish to entangle themselves with the politics of the capitol or become a symbol of war and opted to build only a small meditative enclave. It wasn't until the Old Sith Wars saw the devastation of Ossus and the Great Jedi Library located there that the Order decided to re-establish its academy at the Sacred Spire. At the behest of the Order's wisest thinkers, the Four Masters began the painstaking task of building the Temple Ziggurat. Growing steadily for the next thousand years the Temple incorporated various pieces of historical works and architecture from their past, including tiles and stained-glass mosaics from the lost complex on Ossus.

Following the construction of the four Jedi Council spires, the Jedi High Council moved from their temporary meeting place and permanently relocated to the High Council Chamber at the top of the northwestern tower. As the Order became more and more tightly-linked to the Republic they protected, the Order closed some of its satellite facilities and began moving all artifacts from Exis Station to the Temple's Archives. After the failed Jedi Conclave on Katarr, the Temple was abandoned as the remaining Jedi Knights went into hiding as Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion began the First Jedi Purge. Abandoned for only a brief period, the Jedi reorganized and returned to the Temple following the defeat of both the Sith Lords.

For the next 300 years the Temple would stand as a beacon of the Jedi's light in the galaxy, aiding the ailing Republic during the trying Great Galactic War. It was at the climax of this conflict that a dormant Sith Empire returned to the known galaxy and struck at the Temple during the Sacking of Coruscant in 3,653 BBY. Marching up to the gates of the Temple, a raiding party of Sith led by Darth Malgus entered the Temple and slaughtered the complex's main line of defense in order to shut off Galactic City's security network. Once dismantled, Malgus' assault team planted bombs within the Temple and detonated them when the Sith fleet opened fire from the skies. The exterior of the Temple crumbled, the four stately towers falling upon the tiled roof, an empty ruin of its former self. However, much of the interior remained intact, symbolic of the Order's state of affairs following the attack.