Customer Reviews

The Holy Place: Discovering the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World

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In this book Henry Lincoln proposes that there is a huge outdoor temple in the Languadoc region of France, surrounding a "Pentacle" of Mountains and prominently featuring the hamlet of Rennes-le-Chateau. This temple, according to the author, was built using the English units of mile and rod.

I bought this book because I had enjoyed Lincoln's two "conspiracy" books, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, and his follow up to this one, The Key to the Sacred Pattern. Frankly, this book is his worst. His first two (HBHG and ML) are much more sweaping. "Key" contains a better run-down of the outdoor temple geography, and includes more on his "journey" to his discovery.

If you're enthralled by the Rennes myster (whatever it is!), and have already tried and liked The Tomb of God, this book may be for you.

A warning to those expecting a book about secret societies! Lincoln begins this book saying previous "Rennes" books (his own included) are nothing but "speculation and hearsay." This book is firmly footed in geometry and cartography.

I chose this book because the intriguing title led me to believe I would learn about an ancient ruin or buildling, the civilization that created it., and the activities that took place there that made it "holy". The book went in a completely different direction, however, than what I expected.

The "holy place" is a region around the village of Rennes-le-Chateau in France, and what makes it holy is that the churches, castles and ruins of the area are all aligned in complex geometrical patterns, and the high points of land surrounding the area are situated in the shape of a pentagon. The building sites are on points that form an arrangement of pentagons, stars, circles, and grids. Most of the book describes and illustrates these geographic and geometric relationships, which, although interesting, becomes rather tedious.

I was pretty well convinced of this "sacred geometry", but I really wanted to know who created the site and why. There is a suggestion that ancient people had more knowledge and skills than we acknowledge today, and that a secret society may have been involved in the site's creation. Unfortunately, because of lack of proof, the author had no conclusion about this, therefore, we are left hanging, having to wait until further discoveries are made, perhaps by archaeologists who can some day uncover more definitive proof.

This is one of those rare litle gems that stir the Imagination and make you want to delve into a hypothesis, whether you believe it is true or false. Regardless of the verity of the subject matter of this thin pocket-guide to Adventure in the Languedoc region of France, it does inspire the reader to investigate various interconnecting links and historical works in search of more data to form an opinion about the theories discussed in the heavily illustrated pages. I read the book in '98 and thought it was interesting, but could not quite let myself believe it was accurate. However, after reading a pile of Masonic books and a pile of mass-market stuff--referring to this region--I am convinced there is Something Strange, indeed, about Rennes-le-Chateau and the Languedoc.

I almost reviewed this book last year, but I waited until I read a lot of other material, first. I own "Holy Blood: Holy Grail," but I have not read it, yet & I have not read Henry Lincoln's other works, so most of my interest comes from connections with other historical events and books like "Dungeon, Fire and Sword," by John J. Robinson.

I do believe this book details a very strong case for a Geometrical Conundrum, in this mountain region and the surrounding area, and there seems to be a strong desire to "reveal" the existence of a conspiracy surrounding the region, church, etc. Taken alone and with mass-market material, this book seems to be far-fetched, yet when compared with certain less-known works and the symbolism of Secret Societies....well, it appears to be quite valid--especially, when you consider important admonitions from Masonic Lore, such as: "Alter-not the Ancient Landmarks."

Perhaps, this little book is just a brain teaser, suggesting that people "dig deeper" & decide for themselves what is the Truth?

In the south of France there is an area containing many churches, shrines and so on. They all fall into massive, well laid-out pentagrams and grids. This book is kind of a followup to "Holy Blood Holy Grail" which is an excellent read. For those of you into VERY weird coincidences (or secret plots) will enjoy this. There is definately something going on.....

Lincoln's thesis on the Rennes le Chateau "mystery" hinges on accurate map reading and the authenticity of certain documents. Unfortunately his handling of a ruler doesn't bear scrutiny and the ancient parchments are now known to be fakes produced by a pair of French pranksters in the 1950s. Having said that the idea of ancient peoples creating geometrical patterns on the landscape is gaining credence and some of Lincoln's alignments through landmarks and old churches are genuine. He takes the proposition too far though and is driven by wishful fancy rather than logic. This book is an attempt to salvage his credibility after his Holy Grail/hidden treasure theory was discredited by serious researchers in the late 1980s. A shame, because this is a real spine-tingler for the lover of historical conspiracies.

Studying ancient mathematics I discovered, (thanks to the book and video clip of the aut- hor Henry Lincoln), that also the Templars had dicovered these ancient codes for mathematics and geogrraphy. They used these new knowledge exclusively for their own purpose i.e. building technics and the choice of locations respectively. In order to progress further, I will offer my discovery to Hen ry Lincoln's search this in a lasting attemp to find definitly the buried treasure.