Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty Two

Kneeling in the front seat, Silas scanned the structural layout of the temple as he pretended to pray.Like most churches, Saint-Sulpice is in the shape of a huge cross.The longer area in the middle - the nave - leads directly to the chancel, where a shorter area intersects the nave perpendicularly, this area is called the wing.The nave and wings meet just below the center of the dome of the church, and the intersection is considered the heart of the church - the most sacred and mysterious point in the church. Except tonight, Silas thought.Saint-Sulpice keeps its secrets elsewhere. Silas looked back toward the south wing of the church, at the ground beyond the pews—what the victims had described.

right there. A smooth, slender strip of copper gleamed in the gray granite floor—a golden thread slanting across the church floor.This line is marked with graduations, like a ruler.Silas had been told that it was an hour hand, a pagan astronomical instrument similar to a sundial.Tourists, scientists, historians and pagans from all over the world come to Saint-Sulpice Church to see this famous metal wire. rose thread. Silas's eyes moved slowly along the trail of the copper bars, which ran from his right to his left in the stone bricks of the floor, and folded in front of him at an ugly angle, in perfect symmetry with the church. The design is out of place.To Silas, the strip of copper across the altar floor looked like a scar on a beautiful face.Copper bars run across the church, bisecting the longitudinal aisle, which ends at the corner of the church's north wing.In that corner, there is a monument, which is quite surprising.

A huge Egyptian obelisk. The gleaming rose line turned a 90-degree turn upward at the cornerstone of the obelisk, continued to extend upwards for 33 meters along the surface of the obelisk, and ended at the spire of the obelisk. The rose line, Silas thought, the fraternity hid the keystone under the rose line. In the evening, when Silas told the godfather that the keystone of the monastery was hidden in the church of Saint-Sulpice, the godfather seemed a little unconvinced.But when Silas added that the fraternity had given the exact location, which was connected to a copper wire that ran across the church floor, the godfather immediately understood. "You're talking about the rose thread."

The godfather told Silas that Saint-Sulpice was famous for its singularity—a copper bar dividing the nave on a north-south axis.It was an ancient sundial, the remains of an ancient pagan temple.Every day, the sun shines in through the hole on the south wall, and the light beam will move little by little along the scale on the copper wire, so that the time can be measured. This north-south copper wire is known as the rose wire.For centuries, the symbolism of the rose has been associated with maps or guiding spirits.For example, each map will have a "compass rose" indicating east, south, west, and north.It evolved from the "wind rose", which is an instrument that can indicate thirty-two wind directions, through which it can distinguish the wind coming from all directions.There is a circle on the compass chart with thirty-two points on it, which resemble the thirty-two petals of a rose.To this day, the most basic nautical tool is still called a "compass rose". Its true north direction generally has a French lily sign, and of course, sometimes an arrow sign.

The rose lines on a globe—also called meridians or lines of longitude—are imaginary lines connecting the north and south poles.Of course, there are countless rose lines, because passing through any point on the globe can draw a longitude line connecting the north and south poles.Therefore, the early navigators encountered such a problem-how to determine the rose line, that is, the zero-degree longitude, and determine the degrees of other longitudes based on this. Now, the Rose Line is in Greenwich, England. But that wasn't the case in the past. The zero meridian passes right through Paris, passing through the Church of Saint-Sulpice, before identifying Greenwich Observatory as the point through which the prime meridian passes.The prime meridian was originally identified as such in honor of the maker of the copper bar.Although Greenwich took the honor from Paris in 1888, the original rose line is still visible.

The godfather told Silas: "It is said that the keystone of the monastery was hidden under something symbolized by a rose. It seems that this rumor is true." Still kneeling there, Silas looked around the church and listened to his surroundings to make sure there was no one around.Suddenly, he seemed to hear a "rustling" sound on the choir platform.He turned his head and stared there for several seconds, but saw nothing. only myself. Then he got up and bent his knees to the altar three times.Then he turned left and followed the copper wire toward the obelisk to the north.

At this moment, at Leonardo da Vinci Airport, Bishop Aringarosa was awakened by the shock of the plane's tires hitting the runway. I floated down, he thought, vividly remembering falling asleep relaxed. "Welcome to Rome," came the words over the plane's loudspeaker. Aringarosa sat up straight, tugged at his black robe, and showed his rare smile.He is happy to do this trip.I've been on the defensive for a long time.But tonight, the rules have changed.Five months ago, Aringarosa was still worried about the future of this religion, but now, as if by divine help, the way out appeared to him automatically.

Just in time. If things went well over there in Paris, Aringarosa would soon have what he wanted, something that would make him the most powerful man in Christendom.