Ever heard of Rosslyn? Thanks to Dan Brown, you probably have!

THURSDAY, JULY 17th was the start of "mini break" and another classmate and I decided to join Dr. Welsh on a short trip to Rosslyn Chapel before going our separate ways for mini break. Rosslyn Chapel is located in the village of Roslin, a relatively short bus ride from central Edinburgh. One of the most intriguing things about Rosslyn Chapel is the fact that William Saint Clair (eventually shortened to Sinclair) originally intended Rosslyn to be a grand cathedral. However, when he died during its construction in the 1400s, only the "choir" was built and it remained that way. So now there is a very petite chapel with hints of what could have been. 

Rosslyn Chapel remained virtually unknown to tourists until a certain author visited and decided to feature the chapel in one of his books. Dan Brown mentions Rosslyn Chapel at the end of his book The Da Vinci Code and when the film came out, the chapel (with some Hollywood liberties and modifications) was featured as well. However, never having read the book or seen the film, I don't feel qualified to tell you what those were. I will tell you that seeing the chapel has sparked my interest in seeing it, just so I can compare. 

The really neat thing about Dan Brown's visit and the subsequent popularity of the chapel as a tourist attraction is that the increased revenue has allowed the chapel to receive some much needed restoration. The chapel used to only see 30,000 visitors a year, but after it became known to the general public, they saw that many visitors in one month. 

After visiting the chapel, we had lunch at the cafe (another delicious sandwich!) and then we ventured along a somewhat steep path past the graveyard to see the remains of Rosslyn Castle. Oh my, I can't believe how beautiful Scotland is! After seeing the castle ruins, we walked back to the village to take the bus back to Edinburgh. We found that we had a few minutes before the bus arrived, so we wandered into the local library just down the street. Such a cute village library, well stocked in a small storefront. 

I can't tell you why the village and the chapel have different spellings, I wasn't able to figure that out.