Saint-Sulpice and The Da Vinci Code

Saint-Sulpice is known as the “Cathedral of the Rive Gauche,” (Cathedral of the Left Bank) and is one of the largest churches in Paris. The façade has a slightly lopsided appearance because the south tower was never finished. In the church square, a fountain by Visconti (1844) bears sculptures of four bishops of the Louis XIV era: Fenelon, Massilon, Bossuet and Flechier.

Façade of Saint-Sulpice with its mismatched towers

A massive fountain in the church square

The fountain with Bishop Fenelon

A ferocious lion detail of the fountain

Bishops Flechier and Massilon

Bishops Massilon and Fenelon

Bishops Fenelon and Bossuet

A view of the fountain as seen from the cathedral

The façade of the cathedral with pillars and sculptures on either side

A statue of St. Paul outside Saint-Sulpice in Paris. He is holding a Book of Epistles and a cruciform sword.

The apostle Peter is holding a Book of Gospels and a key, and his right hand is raised to give his apostolic blessing.

Saint Sulpicius, the patron of the church, was a 7th-century bishop of Bourges noted for his piety and his resistance to the tyranny of the Merovingian kings. Construction began in 1646 and was mostly complete by 1745. The north tower was built in 1778-80, but construction was abandoned before the south tower was completed. A wealthy and fashionable church on the Left Bank, Saint-Sulpice went on to host the christenings of none-too-devout Marquis de Sade and Charles Baudelaire as well as the wedding of author Victor Hugo. During the Revolution, the Church of Saint-Sulpice was damaged and turned into a Temple of Victory. It was restored and redecorated in the 19th century with the help of Eugène Delacroix. The cathedral recently became even more popular with tourists than usual thanks to its prominent role in the novel The Da Vinci Code.

This church houses one of the worlds greatest church organs, and the way to hear it is to attend the church service on Sunday morining. Get there about 10:00 and hear the prelude. The service lasts approximately 40 minutes, and then sit and listen to the post service music. The church's organ (1781), located at the west end of the nave, is one of the world's largest, with 6,588 pipes, and has been played by famous musicians. St-Sulpice is still known for its music today, and frequent concerts are held here

The organ of Saint-Sulpice

The altar

The vaulted ceiling above the altar

Chapel of the Madonna behind the main altar

The elaborate pulpit

The crucifix

A closer view of the crucifix

The Chapel of the Souls in Purgatory

The Sacred Heart of Jesus with votive candles

A holy water font

The holy water font in a clam shell shape

There are many more beautiful features of this cathedral, but as with almost all churches and museums in Paris, flash photos are not allowed, so I could capture only the features with enough natural light to get the photo.

Da Vinci Code fans will especially be interested in the meridian line or gnomon, a narrow brass strip that begins near the middle of the nave on the right side, near a stone statue with a Latin inscription and runs north across the nave and transept to an obelisk next to the statue of St. Peter. The meridian line is a fascinating astronomical instrument of the 18th century, used to study the planets and determine the date of Easter each year. The sun's rays enter the church through a small opening in the south transept and rest on the line at various points throughout the year. On the winter solstice, the rays hit the obelisk; on the spring and autumn equinoxes, the bronze table. The obelisk bears a Latin inscription that doesn't quote Job, but describes the use of the meridian line.

In chapters 19 and 22 of the novel, The Da Vinci Code, an albino monk-assassin named Silas pays a visit to Saint-Sulpice, based on instructions Saunière revealed to Silas at gunpoint in the Louvre. Sauniere, whom Silas killed, was a member of a secret organization pledged to protect the secret of the Grail. The monk searches for a keystone believed to unlock the secret of the Holy Grail. (The Holy Grail is the sacred chalice used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper and is said to possess miraculous powers.)

“Embedded in the grey granite floor, a thin polished strip of brass glistened in the stone... a golden line slanting across the church's floor. The line bore graduated markings, like a ruler. It was a gnomon, Silas had been told, a pagan astronomical device like a sundial. Tourists, scientists, historians and pagans from around the world come to gaze upon this famous line.
...Slowly, Silas let his eyes trace the path of the brass strip as it made its way across the floor from his right to left, slanting in front of him at an awkward angle, entirely at odds with the symmetry of the church. ...The strip cleaved the communion rail in two and then crossed the entire width of the church, finally reaching the corner of the north transept, where it arrived at the base of a most unexpected structure. A colossal Egyptian obelisk.”

  The meridien line begins here.

The brass line continues.

The line leads directly into the communion rail.

The line ends up at the obelisk.

An angel and a mural of the crucifixion

The obelisk in sunlight

Silas follows the line to the obelisk, and gets an unpleasant surprise - the instructions were actually a well-rehearsed lie designed to guard the secret of the Grail. In the designated spot, Silas finds only a reference to a verse in the Book of Job which reads "Hitherto shalt thou go and no further." Silas attacks the sole occupant of the church, Sister Sandrine, as she attempts to phone for help.

The Da Vinci Code makes for a good story, and although the Cathedral of Saint-Sulpice is an interesting and imposing edifice in its own right, seeing in the cathedral the real-life references from the novel lends a kind of mystique to the unexceptional. For me, it was intriguing to follow the brass line, as Silas did, from one side of the church, with the interruption at the communion rail, and continuing to the obelisk. I wasn’t the only one paying special attention to the obelisk, and I wondered what an obelisk is doing in a church, anyway. The church issued the following disclaimer concerning the novel:
Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent bestselling novel, this is not the vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in this place. No mystical notion can be derived from this instrument of astronomy except to acknowledge that God the Creator is the master of time.”