INTRODUCTION

In his novel Dan Brown takes us on a journey across Paris that has its origins in our ancient medieval past. Secret societies, the Knights Templar, the Priory of Sion, Masons, and other mysterious groups used symbols and codes to protect their most precious secrets while passing them on to others. Evidence of this can be found in carvings, sculptures, inscriptions, paintings, and objects in or on the meetinghouses of each. In The Da Vinci Code, Brown links these together, sending his hero Langdon on a quest to unravel a code that will lead him to one of the most powerful and carefully kept secrets ever. This guide will take you to those places and reveal some of their hidden secrets.

Even if you have not read The Da Vinci Code, you will find you can enjoy this guidebook, and it will initiate you into the mysteries and enigmas of Paris. However, if you have read the book, then as you go you will be able to relive the excitement of the tale as it unfolds and see how some of the intriguing issues raised by Dan Brown relate to the chosen sites and monuments.

This book aims to be a complete manual. It covers the history and background of all the sites mentioned in The Da Vinci Code, offering some practical tips as well as containing information about other unusual, mysterious, or esoteric monuments and meeting places. We will also unravel some of the puzzles and clues that Brown has woven into his text. For example: The rue Haxo really exists, it is not near Roland-Garros as Brown says, there is no number 24, and there is no Depository Bank of Zurich, but
. . . Haxo is an anagram of Hoax.

Galleries to Golgotha!
The most dramatic events in the book take place in two places: the magnificent Church of St-Sulpice, and one of the world’s most famous museums, the Louvre. This guide will take you on an in-depth tour of both of these monuments, but this trail, like Langdon’s quest, will lead all over the city and even take us out into the countryside to the now-famous Château de Villette and the lovely city of Chartres.

St-Sulpice
Dan Brown’s novel has done for St-Sulpice what Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame did for the cathedral of Paris. In the early 19th century the cathedral was in a terribly poor state of repair. As a medieval monument, it was not held in high regard. In this period it was the monuments of the Renaissance that were considered worthy of attention. These were evidence of a Golden Age when at long last men began to live like civilized beings; they were monuments from an age of enlightenment and learning. Medieval Notre-Dame seemed to serve as a reminder of our warriorlike and barbaric past. Hugo’s book set both the period and the monument in a completely new light. Literally thousands of visitors came to look at the church again, this time with wonderment at the architectural marvel. The public soon rallied to the cause of preserving what had survived, although it was nearly too late. Medieval windows had been removed to let more light into the church, and the original carved lintel of the central portal had been savagely demolished to allow taller processional banners into the building. The heroic hunchbacked Quasimodo put an end to this destruction.

Hugo’s best-selling and wonderfully romantic story, like Brown’s, also begins by citing a cryptic inscription. Hugo wrote that he had seen this carved into the ancient stones of the cathedral. Had it been left by a mason, or by an alchemist? Pilgrims and Quasimodo fans have been coming ever since to seek this curious mark and relive the greatest moments of the famous novel. This is now the case with St-Sulpice Church. Visitors come to seek the enigmatic Gnomon beneath which the Priory of Sion’s keystone was said to be hidden, and to see where the grisly murder of Sandrine Bieil took place. Hundreds who never came before flock to the church. The church has put articles, clippings, and cuttings everywhere, warning the visiting public that it has no real connection with the history or events as told in a recently published novel.

The Louvre
The current curator of the Louvre is apparently not too pleased at being killed off but is delighted that the museum has found a new crowd of enthusiastic visitors coming to marvel at its magnificent collection of Leonardos. People come to seek coded messages in the Mona Lisa and Nicolas Poussin’s Shepherds of Arcadia. These can be seen with the aid of this guide, but there is also much more to discover, and the aim of this book is to lead you on your way.

Controversy and Criticism
The Da Vinci Code has sparked huge interest worldwide and has sold millions of copies. A simple web search on Google using Da Vinci Code + Dan Brown resulted in 1.27 million hits. But the work has been controversial and the book has been highly criticized from many sides. Religious doctrine, the Holy Grail theory, and the supposed relationship between Mary Magdalene and Christ have all come under heavy criticism. These ideas are not at all new. Nikos Kazantzakis, perhaps best known for writing Zorba the Greek, evoked the relationship between Christ and Mary Magdalene in The Last Temptation of Christ more than 50 years ago. The Roman Catholic Church banned his book, and the Greek Orthodox Church excommunicated him for this work.

Another of the many criticisms leveled at The Da Vinci Code is the errors it apparently makes in describing the topography of Paris. As will be illustrated, there are many reasons why Dan Brown describes the city as he does. It is also important to remember that the book is a novel and that it has been written to entertain, so let your imagination be entertained as you discover Paris and enter into the fun, like the millions of other people who have thoroughly enjoyed this gripping book.