Product Description

In the course of their investigations into Leonardo da Vinci and the Turin Shroud, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince found clues in the work of the great Renaissance artist that pointed to the existence of a secret underground religion. More clues were found in a twentieth-century London church. These were the beginnings of a quest through time and space that led the authors into the mysterious world of secret societies and such bodies as the Freemasons, the Knights Templar and the Cathars and finally back to the ideas and beliefs of the first century AD and a devastating new view of the real character and motives of the founder of Christianity and the roles of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. They reveal nothing less than a secret history, preserved through the centuries but encoded in works of art and even in the great Gothic cathedrals, whose revelation could shake the foundations of the Church.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20001 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

From the Back Cover
Now revised and updated, the Tenth Anniversary edition of this classic and highly influential work of historical detection reopens the global debate about he lost Sacred Feminine, the true status of Mary Magdelene, the astonishing nature of Leonardo da Vinci's heresy and the character and motives of the founder of Christianity himself.

The book that directly inspired The Da Vinci code begins with authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince's now-famous discoveries of hidden symbolism in Leonardo's works, especially The Last Supper and the Virgin of the Rocks - with some startling new additions.

Following hot on the trail of the secrets of the Knights Templar, the Cathars, Masonic and esoteric groups, the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and a little-known but highly significant Iraqi sect, Picknett and Prince take the story into previously uncharted territory, daring to ask: was Jesus really the true Messiah - or was John the Baptist intended to be the chosen Christ?

This book is essential reading for all those with an open mind who care about the confusions and cover-ups that have plagued the history of Christianity, causing physical and spiritual anguish to millions.

About the Author
Lynn Picknett and Cliver Prince are writers, researchers and lecturers on the paranormal, the occult and historical and religious mysteries. They are the authors of The Turin Shroud: In Whose Image?, The Stargate Conspiracy and The Sion Revelation. They live in London. Visit their website at http://www.picknettprince.com.