Da Vinci Code locations in Paris
Le Louvre
We will walk to the Louvre and have a private guided tour. Is the Mona Lisa really a code within a painting? Where in the museum was Jacques Sauniere's body found? Is the Holy Grail really buried beneath the IM Pei's glass pyramid? The book claims there are 666 panes of glass in I.M. Pei's pyramid at the Louvre. But an official Louvre document on the Web put the number at 673, while tour guide Jean-Manuel Traimond says he counted 674.
The Italian painting collection begins at the western end of the Denon Wing. The Mona Lisa is in room 13. This small painting was Leonardo's favorite. It has belonged to innumerable French rulers since its acquisition by François I, including Napoléon, who kept it on his bedroom wall. The wife of one Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine millionaire, was 24 when she sat for this painting in 1503. Either way, she has become immortal through Leonardo's ingenious sfumato technique, which combines glowing detail with soft, depth-filled brushwork.
Metro: Palais Royal.
Hotels in the neighborhood : Hotel Louvre Marsollier
Saint Sulpice
Construction of Saint-Sulpice was started in 1646, and was continued by architects Christophe Gamard, Louis Le Vau, Guittard, and Gilles Marie Oppenord, in the Jesuit style.
The Cathedral of the Rive Gauche, this enormous 17th-century church has entertained some unlikely christenings, those of the Marquis de Sade and the poet Charles Baudelaire and the nuptials of the irreverent wordsmith Victor Hugo.
Near the middle of the nave on the right side, you can locate one end of the Rose Line near a stone statue with a Latin inscription.
The Rose Line, a narrow brass strip, marks the original zero-longitude line, which passed through Paris before begin moved to Greenwich, England. Silas the monk uses the line as a reference point in his quest for the Holy Grail. You can retrace his path from the stone statue north across the nave and transept to an obelisk next to the statue of St Peter.
Metro: Saint-Sulpice.
Hotels in the neighborhood : Baume Hotel. La Belle Juliette
Chateau Villette
We couldn't leave Paris without giving you an opportunity to explore two other destinations. An easy train ride from Paris will bring you to Versailles. While Chateau Villette, the home Dan Brown describes as belonging to Sir Leigh Teabing, is privately owned you can visit the magnificent Chateau de Versailles and explore its gardens.
A mere 30 minutes from Paris, near the Château de Versailles, sits the regal Château Villette, laid out on a 240-acre spread in 1668 by architect Francois Mansart. Built for the Count of Aufflay, Louis XIV's ambassador to Venice, the château is not open to the public. The famous gardens surrounding the château were designed by Andre Le Notre, mastermind of the gardens at Versailles.