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2000s: The Louvre, Paris. A murder after hours. A sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ.
The Da Vinci Code
What you need to know before your trail
The secret of the Holy Grail has been debated for centuries. Now, an American Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon, has been drawn into a dangerous argument and struggle to find it – or hide it away for ever. There is a group which has protected the truth and an explosive secret about it for years and now someone hiding in the shadows is deadly keen to try and keep this secret buried.
When one of the high ranking members of this secret society is killed in the Louvre museum in Paris, Robert is asked to help. Drawn into a centuries old secret, he is soon in fear for his life.
Travel Guide
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was very popular when it was first released in 2004 and long after.However it was also widely criticised, especially by the Church as it questions the existence and indeed the origin of the Holy Grail.
Putting the subject matter and your opinions on this to one side, I have found this book to be a very interesting guide book to Paris and beyond for several reasons:
The Louvre is very popular with visitors all year round but I was living and working in Paris at the time when it came out and the number of visitors to this museum and to the underground shopping mall and museum entrance where the upside down pyramid can be found, was quite simply astonishing. Even if you don’t go inside the museum to see the Mona Lisa (Which is MUCH smaller than you would ever imagine), you can still marvel at the Louvre museum itself and the gardens around it.
I also revisited the beautiful Saint Sulpice church in Paris with this book and was rather amused to find the note picture below in the gallery for visitors to read. On another note, the painting of the Mona Lisa has always been a draw to tourists but when this book was published, WOW. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
There were still many tourists taking pictures of the ‘rose line’.Including me. And yes I looked for the P and the S in the windows and imagined Silas breaking the line to look for the treasure beneath. Shows you the power of the written word.
Streetview Maps
1) Paris Louvre
2) Paris - Saint Sulpice
Booktrailer Review
Susan @thebooktrailer
Love or hate this novel. Believe or not what it contains. This is still one heck of a thriller and a great book for conspiracy theorists. This was big everywhere but HUGE in France and the number of tourists to the places in Paris was staggering. I just love it when a book draws a crowd, draws arguments and discussions and everything in between and this was a clever way to do it. Dan Brown gets a lot of stick for his writing but you can’t say that he doesn’t know how to use an old age problem or conspiracy and weave it into a thriller such as this. I remember reading it in a day as I was intrigued to know all about it. Everyone knows about the holy grail but what really exists? This book led to statements from the church, books on analysing the story, books supporting it, discussions of experts debunking the myths. Most people I know read it. Now that is a good book in anyone’s language.
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