diff --git a/app/rendering.php b/app/rendering.php
index 1ee87e1..7ed8670 100644
--- a/app/rendering.php
+++ b/app/rendering.php
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ function renderContentFile(string $filePath, ?Context $ctx = null): string {
             if (!class_exists('ParsedownExtra')) {
                 require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/ParsedownExtra.php';
             }
-            $html = '<article>' . (new ParsedownExtra())->text(file_get_contents($filePath)) . '</article>';
+            $html = (new ParsedownExtra())->text(file_get_contents($filePath));
 
             if ($langPrefix) {
                 $html = preg_replace(
@@ -73,13 +73,14 @@ function renderFile(Context $ctx, string $filePath): void {
     $ext = pathinfo($realPath, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
 
     if (in_array($ext, CONTENT_EXTENSIONS)) {
-        $content = renderContentFile($realPath, $ctx);
-
+        // Load metadata and page plugins BEFORE rendering content
+        // so that plugin-provided template variables are available to PHP content files
         $pageDir = dirname($realPath);
         $pageMetadata = loadMetadata($pageDir);
-
         getPluginManager()->loadPagePlugins($pageMetadata);
 
+        $content = renderContentFile($realPath, $ctx);
+
         $navigation = $ctx->navigation;
         $homeLabel = $ctx->homeLabel;
         $pageTitle = $pageMetadata['title'] ?? null;
@@ -122,15 +123,16 @@ function renderFile(Context $ctx, string $filePath): void {
 }
 
 function renderMultipleFiles(Context $ctx, array $files, string $pageDir): void {
+    // Load metadata and page plugins BEFORE rendering content files
+    // so that plugin-provided template variables are available to PHP content files
+    $pageMetadata = loadMetadata($pageDir);
+    getPluginManager()->loadPagePlugins($pageMetadata);
+
     $content = '';
     foreach ($files as $file) {
         $content .= renderContentFile($file, $ctx);
     }
 
-    $pageMetadata = loadMetadata($pageDir);
-
-    getPluginManager()->loadPagePlugins($pageMetadata);
-
     $navigation = $ctx->navigation;
     $homeLabel = $ctx->homeLabel;
     $pageTitle = $pageMetadata['title'] ?? null;