If you saw the movie or read the book, "The Da Vinci Code", you may remember the Rosslyn Chapel. I don't remember the details as to why Tom Hanks' character and his partner went to the Rosslyn Chapel but that scene in the movie brought an obscure church in Edinburgh to become one of the major tourist attractions in Scotland. According to the guide, prior to its mention in the book and movie, the annual number of visitors was around 30,000. After the book and movie, the annual visitors went up to about 170,000. The church was not prepared for it. They were swarmed. Today it looks like it's better prepared to handle the crowd. At 9 pounds per person, that's a lot of revenue for the church, which is still an active church with regular Episcopalian services.
The church was founded in 1446 as the Collegiate Chapel of St Mathew by Sir William St Clair. It took 40 years for the chapel to be completed. The chapel went through some turbulent times and it was not until the 1800s' that the St Clair family decided to restore and make it a working church. With the money collected from admission fees, gift shop sales, cafe, etc, it has started a conservation program to bring all its glory back.
The carvings on the inside and outside of the church are amazing. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the church. Otherwise, I'd have posted pictures some of the intricate carvings. They all have stories behind them. We had a guide explained some of the details but one needs to spend a lot of time to understand all the true stories behind the carvings.
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| Picture of a bird-eye's view of the chapel |
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| Candy and Watt at the entrance to the Visitor's Center |
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| Outside the chapel |
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| Entrance to the chapel. No photography or video allowed |
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| One of the heads on the outside wall |
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| Another carving on the outside |
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| One of two spouts guarding the entrance |
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