The beginning of The Da Vinci Code takes place in Paris, visiting some of Paris most famous and visited attractions, notably the Louvre Museum. The Da Vinci Code visits other less famous Paris attraction: Saint-Sulpice Church and the Arago Rose Line.
Saint-Sulpice Church the supposed home to the Priory of Sion is in fact Paris’ biggest church. Bigger even than Notre Dame. The present church was built in the middle of the 16th century replacing a previous Romanesque church built in the 13th.
Yes, Saint-Sulpice has a brass line on its floor and an Obelisk as The Da Vinci Code states. But it’s not the Paris Meridian (that’s about 100 yards away), what the The Da Vinci Code calls the Rose Line. In fact the line inside Saint-Sulpice is used to determine the winter solstice and Easter. At one end of the brass line is the Obelisk and the other a marble plate. When the sun, passing through a window of Saint-Sulpice that has lenses in it, touches the Obelisk it is the winter solstice and when the sun touches the marble plate it is the summer solstice. When the sun shines on the metal plate in the middle between the Obelisk and the marble plate it is Easter.
Jeff Steiner - <a target="_new" href="http://www.jeffsteiner.com/">http://www.jeffsteiner.com/</a>
I'm an American living in France, Reignier (near Geneva) at the moment. Over the last ten years I have learned a lot about living and traveling in France. Which is why I created <a target="_new" href="http://www.americansinfrance.net">http://www.americansinfrance.net</a> I'm originally from Los Angeles and have lived outside the United States before - Nicaragua in the early 1990's.
