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Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland
Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland is where Sophie is reunited with her family and the Grail trail seems to come to an end. The chapel, which has a wealth of carvings and a curious, unfinished architecture, is a magnet for Templar enthusiasts, Grail hunters, Freemasons and many other seekers of esoteric knowledge.
The chapel is thought to have been built by Scottish Templars, and like other Templar buildings might have a "Jerusalem" connection: some suggest the chapel's western wall is a model of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. The carvings within it include angels and devils, the Green Man, the death mask of Robert the Bruce, and the faces of the master and apprentice who carved the chapel's most famous pillars.
The chapel is thought to have been built by Scottish Templars, and like other Templar buildings might have a "Jerusalem" connection: some suggest the chapel's western wall is a model of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. The carvings within it include angels and devils, the Green Man, the death mask of Robert the Bruce, and the faces of the master and apprentice who carved the chapel's most famous pillars.
St Sulpice, Paris
St Sulpice, Paris is where the monk Silas attempts to recover the keystone and brutally kills the church's guardian, Sister Sandrine.
,brContrary to the descriptions in The Da Vinci Code, the church is not built over an ancient temple of Isis, has no balcony in which a nun could hide, nor any resident nuns. However, the church does contain an 18th century obelisk, with a line of copper running down it and across the floor of the transept, as described in the novel. The obelisk is part of a gnomon constructed for the church by the English clockmaker Henry Sully, and was used in the same way as a sundial to determine the correct date for celebrating Easter, as well as for other scientific measurements involving the sun. It has no known pagan sigificance.
Temple Church, London
,brContrary to the descriptions in The Da Vinci Code, the church is not built over an ancient temple of Isis, has no balcony in which a nun could hide, nor any resident nuns. However, the church does contain an 18th century obelisk, with a line of copper running down it and across the floor of the transept, as described in the novel. The obelisk is part of a gnomon constructed for the church by the English clockmaker Henry Sully, and was used in the same way as a sundial to determine the correct date for celebrating Easter, as well as for other scientific measurements involving the sun. It has no known pagan sigificance.
Temple Church, London
Temple Church, London is the scene of the showdown between Silas and the trio of Teabing, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu.
The church, which is just off Fleet Street, was founded by the Templars in 1185 and includes a circular sanctuary. The Templars built round churches throughout Europe; two other round churches built by crusaders can be found in Cambridge and Northampton. They built in the round not to insult the church by using an architectural form which was 'pagan to the core', as The Da Vinci Code asserts, but in honour of the circular Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was believed to be built over the place where Jesus was buried and rose again. The Templars saw this as the mother church of their faith, which should be defended at all costs.
The church, which is just off Fleet Street, was founded by the Templars in 1185 and includes a circular sanctuary. The Templars built round churches throughout Europe; two other round churches built by crusaders can be found in Cambridge and Northampton. They built in the round not to insult the church by using an architectural form which was 'pagan to the core', as The Da Vinci Code asserts, but in honour of the circular Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was believed to be built over the place where Jesus was buried and rose again. The Templars saw this as the mother church of their faith, which should be defended at all costs.
