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Scanned image of the book’s front cover

Alan Butler and John Ritchie.
Rosslyn Chapel Decoded: New Interpretations of a Gothic Enigma.
Published London: Watkins Publishing, 2013.
ISBN 9781780284927.
Binding: paperback, perfect bound.
Printed in China.
Size: 134x215x21mm.
Page count: text x,262pp; plates 8pp.
Main language: English.
Unused bargain: these copies show some evidence of storage & handling, mild scuffs on the covers, rubs on the corners, etc.

This item £6.50
P&P inc. within the UK
(delivery outside the UK not currently available)

[Publisher’s price £10.99/$21.95]
Weight without packaging: 361g.

How to order this book

Rosslyn Chapel is a deeply enigmatic 15th-century Gothic masterpiece, situated near Edinburgh. Although generally referred to as a 'chapel' and acting as a local parish church these days, Rosslyn is actually much more than either — and in fact most people who have studied the site in detail come to the conclusion that those who created the structure in the 15th century were not, in reality, intent on building a Christian church at all. In fact, nothing at Rosslyn is what it seems. With its overpowering air of mystery, its superlative stone carvings and its strong Templar and Freemasonic connections, Rosslyn represents one of the most absorbing historical puzzles in Britain.

The discovery of new evidence by the authors puts a new slant on the motivations of those who decided to create a New Jerusalem in the Scottish Lowlands. The signs pointed the authors to a lost holy relic — the skull of St. Matthew the Evangelist, in whose name the chapel is dedicated. There is startling evidence that this skull came to Rosslyn in the early 15th century, brought there by polymath, librarian and all-round genius Sir Gilbert Hay, who also put together a substantial library.

What follows is no less than an adventure, using the clues from the lost books to locate St. Matthew’s skull — now in Washington, DC. The authors also embark on a thorough examination of Rosslyn Chapel's credentials, both a Christian church and as an icon of the impending Renaissance, a reconstruction of King Solomon’s Temple and an astronomical observatory — all suffused with ancient beliefs that would have had the chapel's builders burned at the stake if their true motivations had been discovered.

Contents: Chapel on the glen; In search of a saint; Bones of the holy; In dangerous times; Renaissance men; View to the east; Blood-red light; Peeling back the layers; Into the forest; Christianity's cousin; In the crypt; View to the west; Judaic connections; The chapel then & now.
Appendix: Extract from 'Acts & Martyrdom of St. Matthew the Apostle'.

Illustrations: 8 monochrome text figures and 8 pages of colour plates
Floorplans: 1

Notes: at end of book
Tables: no
Genealogies: no
Chronology: no
Glossary: no
Bibliography: no
Index: yes

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