Customer Reviews

Rosslyn Revealed: A Library in Stone

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The previous reviewer must have read a different book. How anyone can understand Rossyln Chapel as an orthodox Catholic construction is beyond me.
It might be worth the reviewer considering the fact that Oliver Cromwell made a point of destroying Catholic churches on his travels in Scotland, but not only did he leave Rosslyn Chapel untouched, he billeted his troops there. Still we shouldn't be surprised....people still exist who consider the Knights Templars to have been fundamentalist Catholics. No, this is an excellent piece of research. They have a hard time explaining all the "Green Man" carvings at Rosslyn, but then again so does everyone else. All in all, it's probably the best book on Rosslyn I've come across, and hopefully there will be more in the future.

This is an interesting and thought-provoking book (see also the beautifully crafted video by the authors on YouTube). However fascinating the ideas put forward in the text, they do not address Rosslyn Chapel's fundamentally orthodox Christian Roman Catholic origin and purpose. The 'light-box' has no basis in historical fact as it was installed in the 1860s, along with all the stained glass visible today. The original medieval stained glass was forcibly removed at the Scottish Reformation (1560), the wooden screens taken out, the altars razed to the ground, the church plate and vestments and liturgical books destroyed by marauding bands of Reformers. The Chapel as we see it today is a victim of well-meaning Victorian 'restoration' and the equally well-meaning interior paint applied by the Ministry of Works in the 1950s. The Freemasonry symbols were also added by the Fourth Earl in the 1860s when damaged stone carvings were replaced; as for the Knights Templar, the Sinclairs were Crusaders - Templars had to swear vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, while the Sinclairs were rich, married and not committed to any religious monastic Rule. There is no American Corn, the Apprentice pillar is a widespread popular cautionary tale. For more on this, read 'Rosslyn Chapel Revealed' (Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2007).