FRANCE: Village of Rennes Le Chateau rumoured to be home to the holy grail braces for the arrival of thousands of visitors after success of "The Da Vinci Code" movie

Record ID: 661082

  • Title: FRANCE: Village of Rennes Le Chateau rumoured to be home to the holy grail braces for the arrival of thousands of visitors after success of "The Da Vinci Code" movie
  • Date: 3rd June 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) BOOKSTORE OWNER CELINE VASSEUR SAYING: "We are starting to have more people, but I think most will come in summer, in July and August, when they have holidays. And I think that this summer we are going to have many visitors."
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Religion,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA9K91AUHOSPQARYXNRZJC7XTM5
  • Story Text: Just over 100 residents live in the French village of Rennes Le Chateau, in the Pyrenees Mountain, and they're getting ready for a massive invasion.
    For decades they have been trying to prevent foreign visitors from digging the ground around their church and tower, both dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene, but after the release of "The Da Vinci Code" book and movie, they believe many more people will now come to find the mysterious treasure it's thought they are hiding.
    Tourists come from different countries in search of the truth, from a story they only read about in Dan Brown's popular novel. But before the author was even born, religion experts and treasure-hunters already searched the town, with no remarkable result.
    Now that digging is forbidden, visitors buy books on the village's secrets, which are believed to involve the sacred grail and the very origins of Catholicism.
    "We were seeing less and less people every year. Slowly, it was calming down, and since The Da Vinci Code has been published, the increase of visitors has... amount of visitors increased enormously," said resident Jean-Luc Robien, who has recently written a book on the impact on the village of the mystery it's said to be hiding.
    Founded at the end of the 19th century in a place which served as a Catholic fort against the indigenous Cathars, who were brutally repressed by the Church in the Middle Ages, Rennes Le Chateau became known worldwide a few decades afterwards.
    Speculations about a local priest fuelled the belief that the man might have found a treasure, or even the holy grail itself.
    Berenger Saunier had become rich all of a sudden and rebuilt the local church and his own house. He was rumoured to be linked to many state and religious powers, but no evidence has so far been found.
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