Rosslyn Chapel...

Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is all the news. I don't think I'm telling tales outside of school on that note. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks have brought Brown's thriller to the big screen and now the hype has reached a near Olympian elevation.


If there is one aspect of all this Da Vinci Code Mania that bothers me, it would have to be the attention that has fallen on Rosslyn Chapel. Oh, don't get me wrong... the Chapel deserves attention. I just preferred keeping her to myself.

Rosslyn Chapel is like a physical manifestation of all my esoteric fascinations. It has ties to Norse Mythology, Arthurian Folklore, the Knights Templar, Freemasonry, the Grail Quest, Gothic Architecture, Heathenry and Paganism, Christian Mysticism, and of course, Scotland itself. It is almost as if they said "let us construct a sacred place that would be the sum of Bob Freeman's obsessions"...

In March of 2001, my wife Kim and I vacationed in Edinburgh and took a bus ride to the tiny village of Roslin. We toured Rosslyn Chapel that rainy pre-spring day sans guide. There were only three other visitors in tow. An English couple who flew through the tiny Kirk and ventured on to the village, and Sophie, a young college student from Australia who was backpacking across Europe. We spent the vast majority of our four hour visit alone with the Chapel.

We delighted in the intricate carvings of Green Men, Norse Gods, Scottish Heroes, Masonic Symbolism, and Christian Mythology. We laid out on the floor and gazed upon the stars wrought overhead. We jumped the theatre rope and visited the "forbidden" Sacristy and gazed upon the monument to William St. Clair - Knight Templar - 14th Century. We touched the Apprentice Pillar and felt the energy eminating from with its sacred geometry and its depiction of Yggdrisil and Jormungandr. We roamed the grounds and puzzled over the simple stone marker that read "the King of Terrors"... We climbed the scaffolding that imprisoned the hallowed construction and had an intimate view of the roof and columns and carvings that would not have been visible had renovations not been underway.

Rosslyn Chapel was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. It truly was a testament to man's quest for preternatural knowledge and I felt right at home within its sacred space.

Now, with Dan Brown's international bestseller turning the world's eye on the little Chapel in the midlands of Scotland, I can imagine that I will never again be able to experience her as I did that day in March. Never again will I be able to wander through her and experience her in all her glory, devoid of crowds of gawking tourists.

But that's OK. For one perfect day my wife and I had her all to ourselves and she resides in my heart everafter.