Holy Grail History

Moving from the south of the U.K. to Scotland, just a few miles from Edinburgh, is the Rosslyn Chapel. Since Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code, hundreds of thousands of visitors have been there - but even before his book, 34,000 visitors a year made the pilgrimage to Rosslyn to look for secret messages in the chapel and for the Holy Grail. Many are drawn to the Apprentice Pillar which has drawings of Joseph of Aramithea holding the Grail and a cross carved with the shape of the Grail on it. This has caused some scholars to believe that the chalice must be hidden inside the pillar. Metal detectors have shown an object of the right size to be inside, but the Earl of Rosslyn has repeatedly refused to allow the pillar to be X-rayed. His motto is "conservation and preservation, not excavation".

For the moment, the Apprentice Pillar must remain a mystery. But even if the Holy Grail isn't in the Pillar, there are those who say it can't be far away. Rosslyn glen has been a spiritual focus for thousands of years. There are natural caves along the banks of the river - some with Bronze Age markings. There is a network of tunnels under the castle, and no one knows how many catacombs beneath the Chapel. According to legend, treasure hunters sent a piper and his dog down this tunnel to explore the labyrinth. They could hear the music as the piper moved beneath them. He travelled for a mile and then the piping stopped. He never emerged, and no one has ever entered the tunnel since.

Perhaps it's this spirit of exploration that is more important than the answer itself. On their quest to find the Holy Grail, the Knights of the Round Table would only achieve enlightenment if they asked the right question of the cup: "Whom doth the Grail Serve?" There are many who believe there is no chalice - that the Holy Grail is the quest itself; and that it is the quest, rather than the cup, which brings the gift of ultimate enlightenment.

For more information:

BBC - The never-ending search
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4044765.stm

Tintagel Excavations 1998
http://www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/projects/tintagel/

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