Rosslyn Chapel - Secrets of the Templars
The legend of Rosslyn Chapel, located about seven miles from the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, helped to inspire a best selling novel and a block buster movie called The Da Vinci Code. The publicity led to a rebirth of sorts and helped pay for a major restoration that's brought the chapel back to what it looked like when it was built in the mid 1400's. Could it be the final resting place of the Holy Grail? What was the connection to the Knights Templar?
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A building is just a building until it becomes part of a story, and the story becomes part
of a legend.
That's what happened to Roslyn Chapel, located just seven miles southeast of Edinburgh, Scotland.
The chapel was founded in 1446 by Sir William Sinclair as a Roman Catholic collegiate church,
meaning it was self-governing, with financial support coming from the Sinclair family.
What really made Roslyn Chapel famous was the 2003 publication of Dan Brown's best-selling
mystery novel, The Da Vinci Code.
This was followed by the huge box office success of the movie version in 2006, starring Tom
Hanks.
Roslyn Chapel now welcomes about 140,000 visitors each year.
It's an easy, inexpensive public bus ride from the heart of Edinburgh.
The No. 22 bus takes you to the village of Roslyn just a short walk from the chapel.
Indoor photography is not permitted, but published images and outdoor photography give you an
idea of the intricate masonry and carving that first made it famous.
The chapel we see today took about 40 years to complete, but it's less than half the size
that was planned by Sir William.
He died in 1484, and his heirs apparently decided it was big enough.
A little over 100 years after the chapel was completed, the Protestant Reformation swept
over Scotland.
The Sinclairs were warned to close the chapel or risk losing their land and possibly their
lives.
They complied.
The chapel sat abandoned and neglected for almost 150 years.
At one point during the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell stabled horses in the chapel.
In 1660, the old Roslyn Inn opened next door.
It attracted artists, writers, aristocrats and royals.
The great Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott campaigned to restore the chapel as part of
an effort to build national pride and identity.
The first major renovation began in 1837.
The legend that attracted Dan Brown was the possible link between the chapel and a religious
order of warrior knights called the Knights Templar.
They provided protection to pilgrims who flocked to the Holy Land after the Crusades.
In the process, they became very rich and very powerful.
They built a fort on top of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
When the Crusaders were driven out of the Holy Land, they returned to Europe.
French King Philip convinced the Pope to disband the Templars.
Eventually, there were mass arrests and executions, but some got away and may have been able to
take some of the Templar treasure and holy relics collected in Jerusalem, most notably
the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper, with them.
Many believe the Templars became Masons and created the Order of Freemasonry, and that
the Masons who built Roslyn Chapel did so with the idea of making it a sacred place
to house the Grail and other sacred objects.
Is that real history or just a good story?
Whatever people believe, it's bringing them back to Roslyn.