From Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland to the Louvre in Paris, visitors have been flocking to tour locations featured in the controversial book since it was first published in 2003.

It is both a blessing and a curse to the staff of Westminster Abbey, which plays host to some dramatic scenes in the book. Readers of the novel have been besieging the landmark and, with the May 2006 release of the film, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, came a new onslaught of Da Vinci Code fans to join the hordes. VisitBritain has even set up a special Da Vinci Code section on its website, which features the Abbey.

Abbey guides have been inundated with questions from these curious tourists, so in a bid to set the record straight, they have been provided with information sheets to help them correct the factual errors in the book.

Artistic licence

These errors include the mention of metal detectors that don’t exist, the claim that Alexander Pope gave a eulogy at Isaac Newton’s funeral, and implying that visitors can do brass rubbings. In fact, Dr Nicholas Sagovsky, the Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey, claimed the book contained 12 errors about the Abbey.

Religious figures have criticised the book for containing these inaccuracies, and for being generally a bit on the blasphemous side, and so the Abbey famously refused to give permission for the film adaptation to be shot on the premises. Instead, Lincoln Cathedral (acting as a kind of stunt double of the building world) had its Chapter House made to look like Westminster Abbey, and filming also took place at Winchester Cathedral.

Tackling the issues

However, the Abbey isn’t ignoring The Da Vinci Code. In May 2006, it staged two lectures given in the nave by Nicholas Sagovsky and the Rev Robin Griffith-Jones, the Master of nearby Temple Church (which is also featured in the book).

Called The Da Vinci Code Facts And Fictions, the event also included optional evensong and a self-guided tour. The Abbey also produced a booklet that was sold in its shop, claiming to disentangle fact from fiction.

Also at this time, the Church of England added a new section to its website called The Da Vinci Code - Making Your Mind Up, including advice on how to organise an event to discuss the issues raised by the film.

A starring role

So what bits of the Abbey actually appear in the book? The ancient building is filled with monuments and tombs, including that of Sir Isaac Newton on the north side of the Nave. It looks exactly as it is described in the novel – Newton is reclining regally in classical robes on top of a huge black marble sarcophagus, leaning on a pile of his works. There is a pyramid behind him, on which there is a celestial globe showing the signs of the zodiac.

Visitors are free to seek out this tomb, which the book says belongs to “a knight a Pope interred”. This is part of a riddle that will reveal the combination to a “cryptex”. (Don’t ask.)

Da Vinci Code fans can also make their way to the Abbey’s octagonal Chapter House where our two heroes are instructed to follow their evil adversary, whose identity is finally revealed. 

Dan Brown is not the first author to include Westminster Abbey in his writing. William Shakespeare also mixed history with fiction in his play Henry IV by adding a sinister twist to what history books record.  In Shakespeare’s version, young Prince Henry can’t wait to be king and tries on the crown as his father lies dying in the Abbey’s Jerusalem Chamber.

The Da Vinci Code has certainly reinvigorated interest in the Abbey, and the controversy it has brought is just a blip in its 1,000-year history. After the hype of the book and film has died down, the Abbey will continue to draw in faithful worshippers and awe-inspired tourists.