Yesterday we attended Mass at the beautiful Saint Sulpice church on the Left Bank, a church with two round towers modeled after St. Paul’s in London and the second biggest church in Paris (after Notre-Dame). The interior of the church could be described as gloomy; unlike other churchs, its stained glass is not colorful and the walls are a dull grey stone. But the church also holds some beautiful art, like Delacroix’s three murals painted in the final years of his life (see blog dated 2/7/07). This picture is “Jacob Wrestling the Angel.” 
This church was featured in a scene from “The Da Vinci Code,” although the church denied the use of their premises during the filming. The monk, Silas, believes the information given to him before shooting Sauniere (the Louvre’s director)--that the keystone is located under the “rose line” in Saint Sulpice. That is fiction.
The line is called a meridian line and is used to determine the winter solstice and Easter. It is actually an astrological clock that is calibrated as sunbeams hit it from a hole in a window at the top of the nave. The fact that this was also used for different scientific experiments may have saved the church from destruction during the Revolution (when the church temporarily became a "Temple of Victory"). The brass meridian line crosses the floor and ends up on the gnoman, a marble obselisk.
Information in English about the discrepancies in "The Da Vinci Code" is very predominantly posted next to the column for all to read.
For example, the French Prime Meridian and this Saint Suplice meridian have nothing to do with each other; the church is situated some hundred meters from the French Prime Meridian line (referred to as the Rose Line in Brown's book). Furthermore, relating to the book: the church does not stand on the place of an old pagan temple; and the symbolic "PS" you find in the church refers to St. Pierre and to St. Sulpice and not the invented "Priory of Sion."After the 10:30 mass and a delightful 25-minute organ concert, we scampered up the 67 winding steps (as Rick Steves suggests) to visit with the famous organist, Daniel Roth. The 7,000-pipe church organ--supposedly one of the best in the world (created in 1862 by Arisitide Cavaille-Coll)--has responded to the touch of 12 world-class organists over 300 years. When I told Monsieur Roth (en francaise) that his music was magnificent, he asked me (in English) where I was from! It was definitely a very special experience and one not usually enjoyed on the typical travel itinerary.
