Author(s): Tracey Turner

NZ non-fiction

The phenomenal worldwide success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has led to enormous interest in the many mysteries - some genuine, some fictional or altered through 'author's licence' - that underpin the novel's plot. Readers from all over the world have become fascinated with the world of secret societies, religious orders, artworks that provide cryptic clues for those in the know, shadowy religious organizations, conspiracy theories, religious persecution, and the possibility that much of the post-Crucifixion history of Christianity is a fabrication. Although The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction it is set in a world of facts and of history. It is this 'real world' of The Da Vinci Code that has so intrigued millions of readers across the globe. The 501 questions of The Da Vinci Quiz will test not only the reader's knowledge of Brown's work, but also their understanding of the world that it inhabits. Questions include: What links the Knights Templar to 'unlucky' Friday the 13th? Why is it incorrect to refer to the great Italian painter, sculptor, architect and engineer as 'da Vinci', rather than Leonardo?
By what name is the Vatican's Institute for Religious Works commonly known? What has its World Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue, New York City? Why did Vincenzo Peruggia steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911? What is a Manurhin MR-93?