Rosslyn Chapel

Just outside the village of Roslin near Edinburgh, Rosslyn Chapel was made world famous by Dan Brown’s best-selling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, but it has been appreciated for its intricate stone carvings since long before then. Built in the mid-15th century by the Orkney earl William Sinclair, many of the designs are supposedly connected to Freemasonry and the Knights Templar, and as a result Rosslyn Chapel has been the subject of many myths and legends. There’s also plenty of speculation on what the Sinclair vault conceals, with theories that it contains everything from the Holy Grail to the body of Jesus himself.
From the outside, Rosslyn Chapel looks like a beautiful, mini cathedral. Scotland’s churches are normally very somber, but inside this chapel it’s incredibly ornate—every inch of stone has been sculpted into flowers, vines, and figures by the exceptionally skilled masons of the day. As you wander, look out for a bagpipe-playing angel, an upside-down devil, the death mask of Robert the Bruce, and over a hundred images of the pagan fertility figure known as Green Man. Most curiously of all, Rosslyn Chapel has stone engravings of American maize that is thought to have been sculpted before Columbus reached the New World.
Properly named the Collegiate Church of St. Matthew, Rosslyn Chapel is a working episcopal chapel with regular Sunday morning services, and at the modern visitor center next to the church there’s a popular cafe, gift shop, and small museum. 

Practical Info

Seven miles from Edinburgh city center, Lothian Bus 15 runs from Princes Street’s west end to Roslin every 30 minutes. Adult tickets cost £9, while youth under 18 who are accompanied by an adult enter for free. The site is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 4:45 p.m. on Sunday. There are regular 20-minute tours of the chapel every day, the price of which is included in a ticket.