A Pilgrimage, of Sorts

It takes a bit of effort to reach Rosslyn Chapel, though our journey wasn’t quite the ordeal Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou faced in the Da Vinci Code. Situated outside Edinburgh in the village of Roslin, the chapel has been in the hands of the St. Clair family since 1446 when William “The Seemly” St. Clair decided he needed a ticket to heaven, imported the best of Europe’s stone masons to create the ornately embellished chapel, and hired resident priests to pray for his soul. Throughout the centuries Rosslyn has seen its ups and downs. In the late 1500s, during the Reformation, the family was ordered to destroy the altars and it ceased to be used as a place of worship. Oliver Cromwell spared the building (one theory is because he, like William, was a freemason), but stabled his troops’ horses there. It wasn’t until Queen Victoria visited the ruins of the chapel that restoration began and tourists, including William Wordsworth, started making their way here. The site attracted about 40,000 visitors a year until Dan Brown’s book and the subsequent film created a frenzy. Now, up to 30,000 people a month make the pilgrimage to wonder at the amazing carvings and ponder whether the Holy Grail and other sacred treasures lie hidden beneath their feet.

No photos are allowed inside, so these are pulled off the web.