[fr] 
[es]Saint sulpice secrets
| Type | Country | Date | Status | Rating |
 Rooftops |  France | 2006-05-19 | Active | ***** |
Da Vinci Church...
Second largest Parisian church after Notre-Dame de Paris, Saint Sulpice dominates the sixth arrondissement of Paris. Its bell tower, more than 100 m allows incredible sights on Paris.
This is a real maze of spiral staircases and narrow passages, linking the 21 small chapels; the broad peristyle; the abandoned hidden apartments; the great wooden attic; She will offer her secrets only to persevering explorers.
St Sulpice Church drew the crowds in 2005 and 2006 after the huge success of the Dan Brown's book Da Vinci Code.
The yearly number of visitors increased from 200,000 (+25%!).
Filming Da Vinci Code inside the church will not be allowed by the parish.
This in order to preserve the sacred place.
Yet, the church is listed on the program of the famous neo-tourisitc "Da Vinci tour".
Its exploration will remain for us as an intense moment: incredible sights over Paris; permanent discoveries of surprising construction details; hallucinating complexity of the building...
Again, a must. Thanks to my guide for this exploration (he's on the first HDR photos).
Actually, the brass line in St. Sulpice has nothing to do with the Paris Meridian (which passes 100 meters east of the church) - it is a time-telling device installed in the church so that Easter could be more accurately determined. In 1727 Languet de Gercy, then priest of Saint-Sulpice, requested the construction of a gnomon in the church as part of its new construction, to help him determine the time of the equinoxes and hence of Easter (since Easter Sunday is to be celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon after the spring equinox). A meridian line of brass was made, running across the floor and then ascending a white marble obelisk, nearly eleven meters high, at the top of which is a sphere surmounted by a cross. The obelisk is dated 1743.
Roseline runs through the church , marked on the floor by a thin brass line from the gnomon, represents a meridian running from north to south through Paris and was used many years ago to measure degrees of longitude.Extending the measurement, the code tells that, continuing the south of the Paris line it passes very close to Rennes-le-Chateau.
Gnomon is a marble obelisk with signs representing dates and seasons through the year.Commisioned in 18th century by Jean-Baptiste Languet de Gergy, pastor of the church, it had helped him accurately determine the date of religious festivals such as Easter.
I have returned to this site after one year and still think that these photos are amazing. I loved visiting Paris as a nineteen year old student in the 60`s, looking at these pics brings back so many memories. The photographs are so atmospheric and capture the essence of this amazing city. thank you for sharing them.
These are the most incredible pictures of ANY church I have ever seen. The emensity, the power and the mystique of the place is perfefctly captured. Magnificent!
I went to the St Sulpice after seing the amazing pics. My only regret is that I am now too old to do any climbing. But certainly fired my imagination.
Great stuff, you make want to climb up there!!! All the best G
@ Pam, I was one of the 2 chaps. I won't do it again, I promise :-)
Wonderful atmospheric photos. made me a bit nervous to see the two chaps with their legs swinging over the balconies/parapets. How on earth did you manage to get up there?
wonderful, again ! Some of these pictures give me vertigo and goosebumps
Tell me more about rose line and hidden underground vault