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Best-Selling "Da Vinci Code" on Trial
Arizon Daily Star ^ | February 19, 2005 | Francesco Bellini - AP

Posted on 02/19/2005 7:18:48 AM PST by El Oviedo

ROME - Art experts and conservative clerics are holding an unusual "trial" in Leonardo da Vinci's hometown aimed at sorting out fact from fiction in the "The Da Vinci Code" after many readers took the smash hit novel as gospel truth.

The event in Vinci, just outside of Florence, began Friday with an opening statement by Alessandro Vezzosi, director of a Leonardo museum. He said he will produce photographs and documents as evidence of the mistakes and historical inaccuracies contained in Dan Brown's best-seller.

"Leonardo is misrepresented and belittled," Vezzosi said in a telephone interview hours before the event began. "His importance is misunderstood. He was a man full of fantasy, inventions and genius."

The novel's contentious allegations - namely, that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and sired a bloodline - have provoked unprecedented protest among Roman Catholic and Protestant conservatives, who claimed that Brown's characters inaccurately malign Christianity.

The book portrays Roman Catholic leaders as demonizing women for centuries and covering up the truth about the Holy Grail, which the novel says is Mary Magdalene herself.

Vezzosi said he will produce evidence through 120 photographs based on documents and paintings with the aim of "reassessing and disclaiming the author" of the mystical thriller, a mix of code-breaking, art history, secret societies, religion and lore.

Vezzosi said one example of the mistakes contained in the book is the statement that the Mona Lisa was made in Leonardo's image.

"There's a very big difference between Mona Lisa's and Leonardo's noses, mouths, eyes and expressions," he said, adding that he will compare two portraits to prove it.

Brown in the past told NBC's "Today" in June 2003 that while the novel's main character, Robert Langdon, is fictional, "all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact."

(Excerpt) Read more at dailystar.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: davinci; davincicode; italy; novels; religion
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There have been lots of readers of this book including the "liberal TV talk shows" that have embraced this book as "authentic" - just like "ratherization" of Bush's national guard records and Kerry's real hero status.

Te Catholic Church is standing up and say "It's a lie - what's say you"?

1 posted on 02/19/2005 7:18:49 AM PST by El Oviedo
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To: El Oviedo

It's fiction. It doesn't have to be read. Everyone needs to get over themselves.


2 posted on 02/19/2005 7:25:27 AM PST by Stentor
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To: El Oviedo

It's a NOVEL, for pete's sake! These guys need to get a real life somehow.

Novel: A fictional story.


3 posted on 02/19/2005 7:27:29 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: El Oviedo

Good heavens..It's fiction!


4 posted on 02/19/2005 7:32:57 AM PST by MEG33 (GOD BLESS OUR ARMED FORCES)
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To: MineralMan

But, to some people the Bible is a novel. That's why so many archeologists are working to 'try' and prove many references in the Bible, such as Noah's Ark.

Those of us who believe, know that most all of the ancient legends were past down by word of mouth. Some may not be pinpointed, but they were meant reveal a true life.

The greatest truth is that Jesus died because of evil. All we have to do is accept that fact, and try, each day, to live a life of truth, and love, and caring for each other.

Betcha many can't live one (1) count 'em ONE DAY without telling a 'fib'.


5 posted on 02/19/2005 7:42:06 AM PST by wizr (Freedom ain't free.)
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To: wizr

"Those of us who believe, know that most all of the ancient legends were past down by word of mouth. Some may not be pinpointed, but they were meant reveal a true life. "


I couldn't agree more - good post!


6 posted on 02/19/2005 7:47:06 AM PST by Blzbba (Don't hate the player - hate the game!)
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To: El Oviedo

Good post! Even some intelligent people are taken in by that book. A friend (Christian) told me last week that the book says Judas, as depicted in The Last Supper, was actually a woman, and the woman was Mary Magdellan. She was searching for material to see if that was true. The point is that an intelligent Christian gave some credence to this book. I'm sending her the article today.


7 posted on 02/19/2005 8:13:38 AM PST by kitkat (Our Founding Fathers are PROUD of Pres. George W. Bush)
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To: Stentor

Seriously. It is a novel of fiction. It was never meant to be anything more. Believing in it is akin to believing in "Finding Nemo".


8 posted on 02/19/2005 8:14:45 AM PST by L98Fiero
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To: El Oviedo

SOME people take delight in reading reviews of
someone else's actual reading of a book. It
serves them right to fall into mental delusion
if they can't track reality for themselves.

On the FACT page of the NOVEL (immediately following
the Acknowledgement and title pages), Dan Brown
tells the reader THE FACTS around which he built
a NOVEL. THese include:
The Priory of Sion (est. 1099) which in time
attracted members including Newton, Botticelli,
Hugo and da Vinci.
The Vatican sect known as Opus Dei, which recently
built a National Headquarters in NYC.
and finally:
"ALL descriptions of art work, architecture, documents,
and secret rituals in the NOVEL are accurate."

I found the descriptions of the art so intriguing that
even though as a humanities teacher I had seen these
paintings many times, I actually had to download and print
copies of the "Last Supper," "Madonna of the Rocks" (with
enlargements), and "The Penitent Magdalene" (the mirror speaks volumes!) I have these pictures folded and housed
inside the cover of the NOVEL and have loaned them along
with the NOVEL to more than a few friends. But then, I'm
one of those readers who enjoy trekking through the story
with a map handy. IMagine my delight when upon purchasing
Brown's OTHER novel, ANGELS AND DEMONS, I found he had provided the reader a precise MAP of Rome and the Vatican as well as a FACT page!

Suffice it to say, Dan Brown is my kind of novelist! <>g<>


9 posted on 02/19/2005 8:15:19 AM PST by Grendel9
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To: kitkat

They had atwo hour program on Channel 4 the week before last. It was very informative. Virtually everything in the book is not true. The secret society that is said to hold the Grail is completely false and based on lies.

That said, Judas does look very feminine but this was normal for paintings of this time.


10 posted on 02/19/2005 8:16:32 AM PST by kingsurfer
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To: El Oviedo
I didn't much like The Da Vinci Code. I was already thoroughly familiar with "the novel's contentious allegations" (my wife was very interested in this for a while), and, though the early part of the novel was fun--its setting in The Louvre and the rest of Paris and some of the excitement--it built to a climax and then crashed in a silly and disappointing end. I just can't get cranked up about popular novels. There are exceptions, of course. I liked The Godfather.
11 posted on 02/19/2005 8:20:08 AM PST by Savage Beast (My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were Democrats. My children are Republicans.)
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To: El Oviedo

"Leonardo is misrepresented ... He was a man full of fantasy, inventions and genius."

Ah, hey dude(s), the author was exercising his "fantasies" also. Get over it. LOL

"The Catholic Church is standing up and say "It's a lie - what's say you"?

The book is a fiction...to call it a lie is redundant isn't it?


12 posted on 02/19/2005 8:21:57 AM PST by Smartaleck (Tom Delay TX: (Dems have no plan, no agenda, no solutions.))
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To: El Oviedo

You mean "da Vinci" is not Leonardo's last name?


13 posted on 02/19/2005 8:23:11 AM PST by aculeus
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To: Smartaleck

From the Authors own website:

"All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."

He doesn't seem to think it's 'fiction'.

http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/excerpt.html


14 posted on 02/19/2005 8:30:37 AM PST by Bigh4u2
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To: El Oviedo
Get over it Catholic church. Although the book has some historically correct references it is still fiction. What is factual or what is fiction does not matter.

With the church's outrage over this book one would have thought they were accused of something serious like having numerous pedophiles under the robe.

15 posted on 02/19/2005 8:31:11 AM PST by TruthWillWin
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To: L98Fiero
Seriously. It is a novel of fiction. It was never meant to be anything more. Believing in it is akin to believing in "Finding Nemo".

Horse puckey! If you knew the only thing a sizable portion of the population was going to learn about JFK, Nixon, Alexander the Great, or El Salvador was what Oliver Stone told them, wouldn't you take it kind of personally?

How would you like to talk to your thirty year old kid and discover Pocahontas is remembered for her environmental activism?

16 posted on 02/19/2005 8:36:36 AM PST by papertyger (If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.)
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To: El Oviedo; MineralMan; MEG33
MineralMan (self proclaimed godless atheist) wrote:

It's a NOVEL, for pete's sake! These guys need to get a real life somehow.

Novel: A fictional story.

 and MEG33 wrote:

Good heavens..It's fiction!

Yet they both ignore the original article:

Brown in the past told NBC's "Today" in June 2003 that while the novel's main character, Robert Langdon, is fictional, "all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact."

and the comment by El Oviedo:

There have been lots of readers of this book including the "liberal TV talk shows" that have embraced this book as "authentic" - just like "ratherization" of Bush's national guard records and Kerry's real hero status.

Te Catholic Church is standing up and say "It's a lie - what's say you"?

That's what the whole issue is about.  It's fiction being sold as based on historical fact, when the facts are demonstrably wrong.

I read and enjoyed the book as a (badly researched) potboiler.  Not up to the level of Jacqueline Susann, but a diverting weekend read.

I also have read and enjoyed Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, but I would be wrong to base my view of world history, particularly cold war events, on the assumption that what Clancy says happened really happened.  It didn't.

The problem is not with the novel as a novel.  The problem is with the claim being pushed by pin heads that it is historically accurate in ANY WAY.  If you do just a teeny bit of research on your own you will find that this is a direct continuation of the NAZI "pure blood" Cathar heresy expounded by Otto Rahn and pushed by such immanent historians as Heinrich Himmler.  The secret society in the novel bares a striking similarity to the invented history Himmler tried to build for his proposed SS aristocracy.  They were the knights of the secret society sent out to cleanse the world of those who denied the pure blood, represented by the real story of Jesus.

It's an attempt to re-write history, particularly the history of Christianity and of Christ Himself, and sell the notion that Christ was "just a man" and that any and all problems ever experienced by anyone are the fault of EVIL Christians. I reject it completely and, with it, the position that "it's just a novel."

17 posted on 02/19/2005 8:42:28 AM PST by Phsstpok ("When you don't know where you are, but you don't care, you're not lost, you're exploring.")
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To: El Oviedo

Hello, this book is fiction. I wish people would quit getting their panties in a wad over it. It doesn't even accurately describe gnostic beliefs.


18 posted on 02/19/2005 8:42:29 AM PST by mnehring (cBS- Fourth Column, Fifth Estate, Disinformers)
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To: El Oviedo

Indeed it is fiction. Now if they tried to pass it off a Sleep Aid...then it might work. It was one of the most boring books I have read in a while, and I have read a few :)


19 posted on 02/19/2005 8:44:13 AM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: El Oviedo
There is a fascinating book called HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln that was published on January 19, 1982 in England, and on February 26 in the US. It explores the "Jesus' bloodline" theory and begins the "discovery" in the French village of Rennes-le-Chateau. It gets into the Holy Grail legends, and the Knights Templar--and is, like I said, very fascinating. But that it is TRUE is quite another story. I was not a believer when I read HBHG back in the '80's, and now that I am I have no burning desire to read the DaVinci Code.

My relationship with Jesus is a PERSONAL, not an intellectual one, and my faith that He is the Son of God and Redeemer of my soul is based not on what I have read (although the Bible SPEAKS truth to me so often)--but on the actual EXPERIENCE of forgiveness of sin and power of the Holy Spirit to "create in me a new heart" and "restore a right spirit within me".

That being said, I still find the "Holy Grail" legends fascinating.

20 posted on 02/19/2005 8:44:22 AM PST by milagro
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