Rosslyn Chapel

[irishuna]

Being one of the 10 milion people worldwide, that has
read the Da Vinci Code. I was fascinated to learn
that Rosslyn Chapel is only 8 miles from Edinburgh.

Dan Brown reckons the Holy Grail is in the vault underneath.
I hear since the sucess of the book, visitors have been flocking to the place.


Whadda you think? Any comments, Anyone ?

[Polwarth]

Rosslyn Chapel has been a tourist spot for many, many years - way before DB wrote his book

[irishuna]

Yea,

But but because of the world-wide interest
sparked off by his book, there are hundreds
more visitors to the area. I just wonder what
is local/scottish feeling about this.
IS there a mystery as to what the vault holds?
Do locals safeguard a secret?
In Ireland there is such a thing as 'common knowledge'.
Is it similar in Scotland?

Just wondering if ye think its a load of old
cobblers or what ?


Una

[Polwarth]

Well, Una

I'm of the opinion expressed in your second para!!!

The legends abound regarding Rosslyn. I'm just a sceptic!
There is talk about the pillars in the chapel showing depictions of things like sweetcorn - and they were carved before the USA had been discovered. Truth or stretching the truth? People will make up their own minds about that sort of thing, won't they?!

Frankly, anything that will bring the tourists to Edinburgh will help with our economy - so I'm broadly in favour. However, I don't have to live in the vicinity and deal with the increase in parked cars, tourists etc

[katekidd]

I just visited Rosslyn Chapel for the first time last weekend with my Edinburgh-native husband and his mother. My husband had never visited...nor had any of my local co-workers, but I suppose until you have a reason to visit the tourist attractions in your home town, you rarely do.

It was a lovely place, and I recommend it to anyone, Da Vinci Code or not. (I've just finished the book, btw...and was disappointed, but that's a different subject altogether.) The interior is stunning, and we enjoyed finding all the Green Men hidden in the ornate stonework. (The Chapel apparently has the most Green Men of any church in the UK). It is currently undergoing structural conservation on the outside, so it covered by scaffolding. However, you are able to walk along the scaffolding to get a closer view of the lovely stonework (as well as a great view of the surrounding countryside).

The one thing I did notice is that the place does not seem equipped to deal with the sudden increase of visitors. The car park is extremely small, and can only accomodate 15-20 cars, I'd say. The visitor's centre is ridiculously cramped, and was extremely awkward to get into or out of. The signs marking the way to the Chapel are almost non-existant, and we got a bit lost on the way. There is a bus service from the city centre, which is nice, but we met a couple of German tourists who had gotten lost on the way from the bus stop.

I was also disappointed to see how prominently the Da Vinci Code book featured in the gift shop. An entire wall of the small gift shop was devoted to this work of (second-rate!)fiction, and the serious non-fiction seemed to be pushed aside. But I suppose you can't blame those that run the Chapel for cashing in on the success of the book.

It's worth a visit, anyways. It's a lovely spiritual place, that just seems to be suffering a little bit from the increased numbers of visitors.

[bookwyrm]

hi

is aNonnyMoose out there?

if so could you please drop me a line as i'm interviewing interesting people about rosslyn chapel - and would like to talk to your friend the mason if at all possible..

rosslyn legends

there are grail links to rosslyn but not the dan brown ones! the chapel was not built by the knights templar!

but the founder was an avid reader of Arthurian legends - he had a carving of the red and white dragons from a merlin legend put in the chapel and (possibly) a craving of King Arthur with Excalibur too! he even named one of his sons 'Arthur' !

all the best
mark :]

mark oxbrow

[Celyn]

Hello, bookwyrm and welcome to Scotland.com

You're Mark Oxbrow?

Wonderful! I've been racking my brains thinking "I saw something on television, and I'd probably give the Dan Brown thing a wide berth, but the book written by a bloke in the programme would be very good...........etc etc......... but can NOT remember the name.

And now I can! Well, now that I *see* the name, I "remember".

Good! Yes, I'd say you seemed to be the one presenting the voice of sanity and scholarship there.


Yep, we'll set the bloodhounds off to look for Nonny for you.