St Sulpice and the Da Vinci Code - Paris, France
N 48° 51.044 E 002° 20.008
31U E 451102 N 5411076
Saint-Sulpice plays an important role in the popular novel The Da Vinci Code. In chapters 19 and 22 of the book, an albino monk-assassin named Silas pays a visit to Saint-Sulpice.
Waymark Code: WM679A
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 04/16/2009
Views: 40
The monk searches for a keystone believed to unlock the secret of the Holy Grail.
"Embedded in the grey granite floor, a thin polished strip of brass glistened in the stone... a golden line slanting across the church's floor. The line bore graduated markings, like a ruler. It was a gnomon, Silas had been told, a pagan astronomical device like a sundial. Tourists, scientists, historians and pagans from around the world come to gaze upon this famous line.
...Slowly, Silas let his eyes trace the path of the brass strip as it made its way across the floor from his right to left, slanting in front of him at an awkward angle, entirely at odds with the symmetry of the church. ...The strip cleaved the communion rail in two and then crossed the entire width of the church, finally reaching the corner of the north transept, where it arrived at the base of a most unexpected structure. A colossal Egyptian obelisk."
The Da Vinci Code states that the Paris Meridian or the Rose Line as the book calls it, runs through Saint-Sulpice church. This is fiction. Yes, Saint-Sulpice has a meridian line but the one in Saint-Sulpice has nothing to do with the once zero-longitude line Paris Meridian. The meridian line in Saint-Sulpice is used to determine the winter solstice and Easter.
(text taken from various internet sources.)
Short Description: Saint-Sulpice plays an important role in the popular novel The Da Vinci Code.
Book Title: The Da Vinci Code
First Year Published: 2003
Author's Name: Dan Brown
Name of Waymarked Item: St Sulpice Church
Location of Item: Paris, France
More Information: See Long Description
Admission Price?: 0.00 (listed in local currency)
Link to more information about the book or waymarked item.: [Web Link]
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