St-Sulpice & DaVinci Code

Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code has made the church of Saint-Sulpice a hot stop on the tourist trail through Paris. Here are quotes from a pamphlet (provided in English) inside Saint-Sulpice. I find it interesting that they cannot deign to mention the “best-selling work of fiction” by name!

The inlaid brass line in the pavement of this church is part of a scientific instrument built here during the 18th century. This was done in full agreement with Church authorities by the astronomers in charge of the newly-established Paris Observatory. They used it for defining various parameters of the earth’s orbit. Similar arrangements exist in the Bologna cathedral, where Pope Gregory XIII had preparatory studies made for the adoption of the present “Gregorian” calendar.
Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent best-selling work of fiction, Saint-Sulpice is not a vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed at this location. This astronomical gnomen was never called a “Rose Line.” It does not coincide with the meridian that runs through the center of the Paris Observatory, which actually runs several hundred yards east of here. Please also note that the letters “P” and “S” in the small round windows at both ends of the transept refer to Peter and Sulpice, the patron saints of this church, not an imaginary “Priory of Sion.”

This astronomical gnomen is a testament to France's passion for science in earlier times. On the equinoxes and winter solstice sunlight strikes the line so precisely that light traverses the brass strip to the base of an obelisk and up to a round orb surmounted by a cross. An inscription on the obelisk reads: "Two scientists with God's Help."

















As mentioned in an earlier post, I find the two large sea shells, actually holy water vessels, located just inside the entrance to be of particular interest. A gift from the Venetian Republic, they stand out because of the extraordinary bases sculpted by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714–1785). Note the carved sea creatures! Double click to enlarge.

PARIS: St-Sulpice photos

Double click on any image to enlarge:

1. Details of the Italian neoclassical façade

2. Gnomen (Rose Line)

3. The Cavaillé-Coll organ

4. Italianate Pulpit

PARIS: St-Sulpice

Église Saint-Sulpice
The Marquis de Sade was baptized here; so, too, French poet Charles Baudelaire. Victor Hugo was married here. Widor’s Toccata in F was written for the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll organ here. The Rose Line, a narrow brass strip in the floor, made familiar to millions in The DaVinci Code, bisects the nave. Jules Massenet set an act of his opera, Manon, at this oh-so-fashionable church.
We could be only at Saint-Sulpice, the huge Italianate edifice in the 6th arrondissement, just a couple of blocks north of the Luxembourg Gardens. It was constructed from 1646 through the 1770s and is the second largest church in Paris after Notre-Dame. Artistically, St-Sulpice is distinguished by the extraordinary frescoes painted by Eugène Delacroix.














A 19th-century watercolor of St-Sulpice by François-Étienne Villeret

Those of you who read The DaVinci Code will recall that Silas the monk used the Rose Line as a reference point in his quest for the Holy Grail. You can retrace his path north across the nave and transept to an obelisk next to the statue of St Peter. The astronomical gnomen (Rose Line) of Saint-Sulpice was commissioned in 1727 in order to determine the exact date of Easter along with the winter and summer equinoxes; Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox – but you knew that, right? Note – a gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts the shadow (gnomon is a Greek word meaning "indicator"). In the south transept window a small opening with a lens was set up, so that a ray of sunlight shines onto the brass line. At noon on the winter solstice (December 21), the ray of light touches the brass line on the obelisk. At noon on the equinoxes (March 21 and September 21), the ray touches an oval plate of copper in the floor near the altar. Constructed by the English clock-maker and astronomer Henry Sully, the gnomon was also used for various scientific measurements. This secular use may have protected Saint-Sulpice from being destroyed during the French Revolution.

Oh, and not only do the two spires not match architecturally, they are of different heights. The one on the left is a bell tower. Weird.

And be sure to check out the two large shells (holy water receptacles) given to King François I by the Republic of Venice. These two shells rest on rock-like bases, sculpted by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, who had the unfortunate distinction of lending his name to the infamous red-light district near Montmartre.