Saturday, June 26, 2004

I've seen things...

...you people wouldn't believe.
Not far from where we live lies the small Rosslyn (Roslin) Chapel, and castle ruins, a chapel built by the Knights Templars in 1446 on an ancient Mithraic temple site. I'll say that again: built by the Knights Templars in 1446. The chapel also features in Dan Browns conspiracy thriller The Da Vinci Code.
This is an awesome place, awesome! You are in fact standing next to several tombs where Knights Templars are buried, one of which is the chapel's founder Sir William St Clair, third and last Prince of Orkney. And the Scandinavian links doesn't stop here (Orkney was part of the Danish Crone until it was given away as a wedding present to a Scottish Princess many years later). One of the pillars in the chapel depicts the eight dragons beneath the tree of life, Yggdrasil. Huh? Norse mythology in a Christian church? Yes, yes, indeed. The chapel is totally fillled with symbols from ancient religion, freemasons, Judaism and much much more. Brilliant.
Rosslyn Chapel website