Rosslyn Chapel

Someone at work was talking about Scotland today, and about one of the visits they had made to Edingurgh.

I asked if they had managed to visit Rosslyn Chapel, not far from Edinburgh, but unfortunately they hadn't. Such a shame.

If you ever get the chance, GO!

Rosslyn Chapel is important for many reasons, but has enjoyed particular fame since Dan Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code, setting one of his scenes at this gorgeous location.

Before the movie was released, Sam and I had visited the Chapel. In fact, the day we were there was apparently the day before Tom Hanks was due to arrive and begin filming his scenes. Typical. Oh well.

Rosslyn Chapel is beautiful. If you have seen the movie, it is much smaller than you would think. Also, when we visited, there was scaffolding and construction paraphernalia over the whole site.

Of course, what with modern day movie magic, the scaffolding had disappeared for the scenes in the film.

Every inch of Rosslyn Chapel is carved and artistically constructed, decorated with intricate faces and symbols everywhere you care to look.

The architecture is highly praised.

The symbolism sparks the imagination, as it includes Christian, pre-Christian and numerous other inferred influences. The unusual mixture of images and symbols just add to the mystery associated with Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin Village, the St. Clair family and the Holy Grail.

Yes, the Holy Grail! If you have read the book, or seen the movie, you should have an idea of what I'm talking about. If not, (how could you have missed it all?) go here.

Truly steeped in history, Rosslyn Chapel's story is abuzz with tales of Masonic puzzles and agendas, and replete with whispers of The Knights Templar. The stuff of legend!

I loved Rosslyn Chapel, and take great pleasure in sharing some of my photographs with you, that I had to search high and low for. It is one of many treasures that my home country has to offer the world.

The Da Vinci Code was, for some, controversial. Some quarters were offended at the suggestion that Jesus was more human, than Divine. My views are that Jesus was a real man, that he had a wife, that he had children and that his bloodline continues to the present day.

For me, Jesus being human does not make any less of his gift to the world. It does not make any less of God either.

But this is probably a topic for a whole other post...

Do the St. Clair family guard some part of that secret lineage? I don't know, but in the history of the world, stranger things have happened.

Whatever may be the case, Rosslyn Chapel sets a beautiful scene for any mystery, real or imagined.