Holy Place : Decoding the Mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau

The great enigma that surrounds this small village in the foothills of the Pyrenees, formed the starting point for the sensational bestseller, "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail".

It investigated the curious case of the village priest, Berenger Sauniere, who in the late nineteen century, discovered a series of parchments in the church which led him not only to a possible buried treasure but also back to the cryptic legends that Jesus' bloodline still exists.

Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" has reignited curiosity about this ancient settlement and in "The Holy Place", Henry Lincoln sets out to decode why Rennes-le-Ch'teau has been the source of so much mystery and drama.

It is nothing less than the eighth wonder of the ancient world, a natural and perfect pentacle of mountain peaks surrounded by a titanic man-made temple.

Previously invisible to all but the initiated few, this magnificent monument is now disclosed.

The clues were well-hidden over the centuries - in parchments, tombstones, riddles and works of art. What is now shown is an immense geometrical temple, stretching for miles across the landscape, a constellation of pentacles, circles and hexagons: a Holy Place of enormous size and significance.