Holy Grail Quest in Iceland Ends

The Grail quest of Italian cryptographer Giancarlo Gianazza and architect Thórarinn Thórarinsson is officially over. The pair made headlines earlier this year by publicly presenting their theory that the Holy Grail was hidden in the Kjölur Mountain pass in Iceland. They ascertained the location of the Grail by unraveling “clues” obfuscated in Dante’s Divine Comedy, Da Vinci’s Last Supper, and various painting by Botticelli. All the evidence they amassed pointed to the Grail’s resting place being a secret underground chamber in the mountain pass.

Iceland Review reported this week that the team did in fact do some excavations the Kjölur Mountain pass this summer. Alas, the team came up with nothing more than water where the secret chamber should have been. The article goes on to report that Gianazza is still hopeful that the Grail lays in Iceland, somewhere…

Possibly the most disappointing part of the story is that while doing some research in Iceland prior to the excavations, a possible allusion in local records to a Templar presence in Iceland was uncovered. Gianazza went on record as saying, “He [Thórarinn Thórarinsson] has told me that in the official historic records of Iceland it is stated that in 1217, during the meeting of the Althing – the Parliament established in 930 – the leader and poet Snorri Sturlusson appears next to what the text defines “80 knights from the south, all dressed and armed in the same fashion” and is elected as commander for that year.” No evidence of these Knights being Templars has since surfaced in this summer’s excavations as well.

I have to applaud the group for following through with taking their research to real world tests and seeking the Grail. Few have the convictions of their armchair Robert Langdon dreams. Furthermore, the fortitude it took to announce to the world that they were wrong says something about Gianazza’s efforts as well. Maybe next time guys.