FOREWORD

This book is for anyone who loves Paris, but especially for those who love to walk its streets with a spirit of discovery. The theme that ties it together is the story told in Dan Brown’s best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code. In the book, mystifying codes, secret societies, religious sects, religious controversy, and mysterious monuments are all clues that lead a trail across Paris and beyond—an irresistible quest just waiting to be followed. Whether you have read the book or not, if you are a keen explorer of the city and its many mysteries, this book is for you. This is how it came about:

My wife and I set up Paris Walks more than 10 years ago. As art historians, our purpose was to bring to life 2,000 years of Paris’s history, art, and architecture. Literally thousands of people have come on our guided visits to discover the wonders of Paris, its museums, monuments, and ancient historic quarters. Some time ago, like so many others, we began to hear frequent references to a new book, some sort of thriller, set in Paris. In the story, the curator of the Louvre was murdered, while the protagonists departed on a treasure hunt following clues hidden in Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings. It’s not the kind of book we usually read! As the months went by I was accosted each time I accompanied a group into St-Sulpice Church, and each time I was asked the same questions: “Is there a Rose Line here in the church?” and “Where is the Gnomon?” Eventually my curiosity was aroused enough to acquire the book. I wandered round to the delightful English bookseller Village Voice, tucked away behind St-Sulpice, and bought a copy of The Da Vinci Code. I took it home, began to read it, and found, to my astonishment and like millions of others before me, that I just could not put the book down. I was immediately inspired to look at reproductions of the paintings in the book. I simply had to verify the descriptions given by the author. In his introduction, Dan Brown says, “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” But are they? After all, Brown is a novelist and this is a thriller. This gripping novel certainly raises as many questions as it answers!

I soon found that I could not resist the temptation to check all of these curious observations for myself. I set out to look at the paintings closely and to visit the locations. As a trained historian, my first reaction was to go back to the sources and see for myself whether there could be any basis for truth in what Brown was telling his readers. The quest was an intriguing trail that led all over Paris. Our guides quickly became specialists in the subject, researching and leading regular tours on this theme. One of our guides is related to the academic Hugh Schonfield, who wrote The Passover Plot, first published in 1967. This book was one of several upon which the controversial subject matter of stories such as The Da Vinci Code is based.

As my fascination with researching the sources for The Da Vinci Code grew, so did the idea of sharing the results. We soon set up a Da Vinci Code Tour of Paris, and it wasn’t long before it was spotted by editors Constance de Bartillat and Charles Ficat. Their determination soon transmogrified The Da Vinci Code Tour of Paris into the definitive code-seekers’ guidebook. As previously stated, many of the ideas in the book are controversial, and many of the so-called facts are troubling; they leave plenty of opening for belief but to really find the answers, the only solution is to go on the trail and decide for yourself.

Brown encrypted a four-part code on the front cover of his book, offering a trip to Paris for the lucky cryptographer who could decode the message—40,000 people returned the answers to him! The book, its secrets, codes, and conspiracy theory have excited the imaginations of millions. So far, more than a dozen books have been written to help the reader decode Dan Brown’s book, which is packed full of codes from cover to cover. These books take diverse points of view. Some are tongue-in-cheek, and others defend Christianity, seeing The Da Vinci Code as a threat. One such book, recently published in French, disputed, in a mocking tone, every point made by Brown, offering little analysis and no alternative evidence. The best of them take an intelligent look at the questions raised by the novel, examine its contents, and attempt to give a balanced view. This book aims to do this while offering a unique way to visit the city of Paris.