Rosslyn Chapel gets big boost

ROSLIN, Scotland – There’s no mystical rose line running through it, no Star of David carved into the floor or hidden vault where the fabled Holy Grail may rest.

Reality at Rosslyn Chapel is very different from the portrayal in Dan Brown’s hit thriller, “The Da Vinci Code.” But the novel has been a welcome boost for a church in desperate need of repair.

It suggests that the medieval stone building perched in the hills outside Edinburgh could be the repository of the Holy Grail – and with it the secret of whether Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene founded a dynasty.

Many visitors, although drawn by the novel, are skeptical of its theories.

“I loved the book, but at no time did I come here thinking I should look for the Holy Grail,” said Margaret Silberman, a psychologist from Chicago. “It didn’t disappoint me that it’s not just as Brown described – it’s fiction, after all.”

Myra Pruitt from Atlanta also said she didn’t believe Brown’s theories, “but even without that, this is a spiritual, fascinating place.”

Rosslyn hosted 117,000 visitors in 2005, and another 145,000 are expected this year, according to church director Stuart Beattie.

Hoping to swell those visitor numbers, VisitScotland, the official tourist agency, has invested $54,000 on a DVD, “The Rosslyn Enigma,” which it is using to promote the destination in North America.

The chapel, which was built in the shape of a cross, was founded in 1446 by Sir William St. Clair, a Grand Master in the Knights Templar, an ancient order of benevolent knights.

Tour guides focus on the intricate stone carvings of angels and green men (a sign of rebirth) and the imposing “apprentice pillar” with its twisting wreaths of stone leaves, named for a young worker supposedly killed by a boss jealous of his skill.

But there is no Star of David on the floor, no rose line leading to the grail, and no vault that could be hiding the legendary relic.

Movie director Ron Howard brought Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou here to film scenes from the book. The crew paid the chapel for four days of lost tourism revenue, a figure reported to be upward of $36,000, though Beattie won’t be specific.

The chapel needs $23 million to correct damaging repairs from the 1950s; visitors are charged $12.50 to enter.

There’s very little that is specifically Christian in the gift shop, which offers Less Templeur chardonnay (“a dry white that comes from vineyards planted when the Knight Templar roamed the southern French countryside”), Masonic symbols, a Da Vinci board game and books about the Holy Grail theories, including Brown’s.

Across the road from the chapel, an enterprising farmer markets “Da Vinci manure” at 90 cents a bag.