The Holy Place

1. A Chance Book Purchase Unlocks a Deep Mystery

As haphazardly as a roulette wheel the spinning bookstand had presented me with a winner.

An accidental discovery. In 1969, a casual purchase of the French paperback Le Trésor Maudit (The Accursed Treasure) in a small provincial town unexpectedly launched the author on a twenty-year journey of excitement and discovery. The book told the intriguing story of Bérenger Sauniere, a poor 19th-century priest in the tiny village of Rennes-le-Château, who supposedly found mysterious parchments that led him to immense wealth. The tale was rooted in recent history, with tangible evidence like Sauniere's sudden riches and surviving account books.

First hidden message. While idly examining a reproduction of one of the parchments, the author stumbled upon a simple hidden message by picking out letters: A DAGOBERT II ROI ET A SION EST CE TRéSOR ET IL EST LA MORT ("This treasure belongs to Dagobert II King and to Sion and he is there dead"). This message, surprisingly unmentioned by the book's author, Gérard de Sède, immediately signaled a deeper mystery and prompted the author to investigate further. The simplicity of the code suggested it was an intentional lure.

Beyond buried treasure. The initial focus on buried treasure broadened as the author researched the historical background of the Languedoc region, rich with tales of Cathars, Knights Templar, and ancient conflicts. Recognizing the potential for a documentary, the author contacted de Sède, whose cryptic response ("Because we thought it might interest someone like you to find it for yourself") hinted at a deliberate, orchestrated mystery far more complex than a simple treasure hunt. This marked the beginning of a long exploration into the secrets of Rennes-le-Château.

2. Hidden Messages in Parchments Reveal Layered Clues

The cryptic messages are hidden with varying degrees of subtlety.

Simple surface clues. The parchments, whether genuine or modern forgeries, undeniably contain ciphered messages designed to attract attention and encourage deeper investigation. Parchment One, a Latin Gospel text, features uneven line lengths and isolated letters. Parchment Two, another Latin text, includes oddly placed letters and a device in the corner.

Deciphering the obvious. Simple techniques reveal initial messages:

• Raised letters in Parchment One spell out the Dagobert message.
• An inverted 'A' and other letters in Parchment Two's corner device spell "SION".
• Separated words in Parchment One, "REDIS BLéS SOLIS SACERDOTIBUS", translate to "The corn/treasure of Redis (Rennes) is only for the priesthood/initiated".
• Smaller letters in Parchment Two spell "REX MUNDI", the Cathar term for the God of Evil.

Geometric understructure. Beyond simple wordplay, Parchment One contains a brilliant geometric puzzle. Connecting three crosses marked in the text reveals lines that align with a triangular device and pass through the letters "S I O". Using the midpoint of a line and the crosses as guides, drawing circles reveals that the remaining crosses lie precisely on a circumference. This process unveils a complex pattern, including a pentacle breaking through a circle, demonstrating the creator's focus on geometry.

3. The Village Church Whispers Secrets Through Symbolism

For those with ears to hear and with eyes to see’, he demonstrates how, in this place, layer after layer of meaning is buried beneath a seemingly innocent surface.

Unconventional decorations. Bérenger Sauniere's lavish redecoration of the village church, paid for with his newfound wealth, is filled with unusual and seemingly impish clues. Immediately inside the door, a grotesque devil statue serves as a holy water stoup, a startling image for a place of worship. Above it, Sauniere's initials 'BS' and the phrase "By this sign ye shall conquer him" (referring to the devil) draw attention.

Symbolic elements. The devil statue and surrounding figures incorporate symbolic elements:

• The devil (Earth) supports the water.
• Salamanders (Fire) are placed above the water.
• Angels (Air) crown the group.
  This arrangement represents the four elements of Hermetic thought, hinting at alchemy or a return to older ways of thinking, far removed from conventional Christian theology.

Clues in the Stations of the Cross. Sauniere added peculiar details to the standard fourteen Stations of the Cross. While some figures are from common moulds, the backgrounds and added elements are unique. Station VI, depicting St Veronica, contains a decipherable message using wordplay based on French sounds:

• "High shield" (Haut Bouclier) sounds like "at the bottom of the enclosure" (Au bout clier).
• "Half tower" (Demi tour) also means "a half turn".
• "Veronica with the cloth" (Veronica au lin) sounds like "towards high nest" (Vers haut nid) and "kaolin" (china clay).
• "Simon is looking" (Simon regarde) sounds like "the crest one is looking at" (Cime on regarde).
  Combined, this directs the searcher to the cemetery ("enclosure"), to turn towards the china clay peak (Cardou), and look at the crest of Blanchefort, a precise instruction on the ground.

4. A Famous Painting Holds a Geometric Key

The essential statement that ‘Poussin and Teniers hold the key’ is unambiguous.

Cipher points to artists. A complex cipher found in Parchment Two, supposedly broken by French army computers (a claim the author found unconvincing), yielded a bizarre message including the line "SHEPHERDESS NO TEMPTATION THAT POUSSIN TENIERS HOLD THE KEY". This linked to a detail in Le Trésor Maudit about Sauniere buying reproductions of Poussin's The Shepherds of Arcadia and a Teniers painting. The phrase "no temptation" seemed to point to a Teniers painting where St Anthony is not tempted.

Poussin's tomb in reality. The mystery deepened when the author was informed that a tomb resembling the one in Poussin's painting had been identified near Rennes-le-Château. Upon visiting the site (now sadly destroyed), the author was struck by the extraordinary precision with which Poussin had depicted the surrounding landscape, including the Rock of Toustounes, Cardou mountain, the Blanchefort crest, and even the distant outline of Rennes-le-Château itself. This strongly suggested Poussin had visited the area or worked from detailed sketches, contradicting art historical consensus.

Hints of a secret. Further investigation revealed intriguing connections:

• A letter from Abbé Louis Fouquet to his brother Nicolas Fouquet mentions Poussin having secrets "which even kings would have great pains to draw from him" and "nothing now on this earth can prove of better value".
• Nicolas Fouquet was later imprisoned, and his servants were isolated to prevent them revealing his secrets.
• King Louis XIV acquired Poussin's painting and kept it privately.
  An X-ray of the painting revealed another anomaly: the shepherd's staff was painted before the tomb, suggesting the staff was a critical, controlling feature in the composition.

5. Pentagonal Geometry Links Documents, Art, and Mountains

The ancient geometric symbol which Poussin had used was the Pentacle.

Staff reveals hidden structure. The shepherd's staff in Poussin's painting, highlighted by the X-ray anomaly, was found to be precisely divided in half by the shepherd's arm. This exact measure was repeated between significant points in the painting, indicating a rigid underlying geometry. Professor Christopher Cornford, an expert in painting geometry, analyzed The Shepherds of Arcadia and confirmed a complex structure based on the Pentacle, an ancient geometric symbol.

Pentagon on the map. Cornford suggested testing the map of Rennes-le-Château for pentagonal geometry, given its presence in the parchment and the painting. This led to the astonishing discovery of a gigantic natural pentagon formed by five mountain features:

• Bezu Castle (Templar)
• Blanchefort Castle
• Rennes-le-Château village
• La Soulane (spot height)
• Serre de Lauzet (spot height)
  These points form a pentagon some fifteen miles in circumference, with a sixth mountain, La Pique, at its center. The precision of this natural arrangement is remarkable.

Celestial connection. The pentacle, or five-pointed star, is the precise pattern traced by the planet Venus in the sky every eight years as seen from Earth. In occult and alchemical thought, Venus was associated with Mary Magdalene, the patron saint of Rennes-le-Château. This celestial link, combined with the earthly pentagon of mountains, suggested that the site was considered a "Holy Place" where the pattern of the heavens was mirrored on the ground, a concept powerful to ancient cultures.

6. An Ancient, Precise Measure Underlies the Landscape Design

My work on the Temple of Rennes-le-Château, however, seems to leave no doubt that the apparently arbitrary English measure (as Boudet has hinted) stems from a standard unit fixed in the remote past.

Boudet's bizarre hint. Edmond Boudet, the priest of Rennes-les-Bains and a friend of Sauniere, wrote a confusing book, La Vraie Langue Celtique, arguing that English was the original universal language and describing a complex megalithic structure ("Cromlech") around his village. While his linguistic theories were nonsensical, his focus on English and a landscape structure hinted at a connection.

The English mile emerges. David Wood's later research identified the English mile as a unit of measure in the Rennes-le-Château landscape geometry. The author hypothesized that Boudet's focus on English and his "Cromlech" might be a cryptic way of indicating that this ancient structure was built using the English mile. This idea seemed bizarre, as the English mile is considered an arbitrary measure, unlike the metre which is based on the Earth's circumference.

Measure linked to Earth and Golden Section. Further investigation revealed extraordinary mathematical relationships:

• The square root of the kilometre (1/10,000,000th of Earth's quadrant, 39,370 inches) is 198.41874 inches, very close to the modern Pole (198 inches).
• An ancient Chinese measure, the Kung Ch'ih (14.14 inches), is the square root of 198.41874.
• The Sumerian Shusi (33 inches) is exactly one-sixth of a Pole.
• The English mile (63,360 inches) divided by the Golden Section (1.618) gives 39,159.456 inches, whose square root (197.88748) is again very close to the Pole.
  These relationships suggest the English measure is not arbitrary but derived from a sophisticated system linked to the Earth's dimensions and the Golden Section, used by ancient cultures.

7. Structures Form a Vast, Deliberate Geometric Temple

The Temple of Rennes-le-Château is perhaps the largest structure ever built by man upon the face of the earth.

Beyond the mountain pentagon. The initial discovery of the natural mountain pentagon (P1) was followed by David Wood's identification of a second pentacle (P2) formed by churches and castles, centered near Coume-Sourde. This point (X) was found to be equidistant from multiple structures over a six-mile diameter, indicating deliberate placement. The two pentagons were geometrically linked, with P2 angles bisecting P1 angles and structures like Montferrand Castle precisely placed at intersection points.

Alignments and measures. The landscape is crisscrossed by numerous precise alignments between churches, castles, calvaires (wayside crosses), ruins, caves, and springs. These alignments are not random but conform to specific angles and, crucially, exact distances based on the English mile and its subdivisions (half-mile, quarter-mile, furlong, pole). The accuracy required to achieve this over mountainous terrain is staggering, suggesting sophisticated surveying techniques.

Interlocking geometric patterns. The structures define multiple interlocking geometric figures:

• The two main pentacles (P1 and P2).
• A third pentagon (P3) formed by churches, the Poussin Tomb, and a ruin, also based on precise mile measures.
• Multiple circles with a radius of 933.586 poles (derived from the mountain pentagon and Golden Section), centered on structures like Esperaza and Coustaussa churches.
• These circles contain perfect star patterns, including a ten-pointed star (two interlaced pentacles) and a six-pointed star (Seal of Solomon), demonstrating the integration of different geometric principles.

8. The Paris Meridian is Inexplicably Woven into the Design

There can be no doubt that churches, calvaires, castles and obscure ruins - almost every structure of note upon the map - form an intricate web of alignments which intersect with perfect regularity on the zero meridian.

Meridian's strange location. The Paris Zero Meridian, defined by the Cassinis in the late 17th/early 18th century as running through the Paris Observatory, passes directly through the Holy Place area, near the Poussin Tomb and La Soulane mountain. David Wood first noted its alignment with Arques Church at an exact two-mile distance.

Alignments intersect on the Meridian. Further investigation revealed that numerous alignments between structures across the landscape intersect with incredible precision along the line of the Paris Meridian. These intersection points are not random but are spaced at perfectly regular intervals along the Meridian.

Regular spacing reveals the key. The distance between these regularly spaced Meridian intersection points is exactly one-third of the circle radius measure (933.586 poles). This demonstrates that the Meridian line is not coincidentally located but is inextricably linked to the geometric structure of the Temple, based on its fundamental unit of measure.

A historical paradox. This presents a profound paradox: how could structures built over a thousand years ago align with a line defined centuries later? The only logical conclusion is that the Cassinis, when defining the Paris Meridian, based it upon this pre-existing line of intersections marked out by the ancient structures. This implies a hidden knowledge of the Temple's geometry existed in the 17th/18th century, raising questions about why it was not revealed.

9. A 'Lost City' Hints at the Builders' Identity

The thought that we might be gazing at the remains of a ‘Lost City’ seemed
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Last updated: May 16, 2025