The Da Vinci Code is both blessing and curse to the staff and leadership of London’s Westminster Abbey. Readers of the best-selling novel by Dan Brown have besieged the Abbey since the book’s publication in 2003. With the May 2006 release of the movie, staring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, a new onslaught of Da Vinci Code tourists seems inevitable.

Controversial since its publication, The Da Vinci Code postulates a Catholic Church conspiracy to hide the “fact” that Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene. The novel is a page-turning thriller, mixing religious history, theory and fiction. The Da Vinci Code spins a web of intrigue, secret societies and murder around a modern-day quest for the Holy Grail.

In 2004, Reverend Nicholas Sagovsky, Westminster Abbey’s canon theologian, took to the pulpit and attacked the book as “complete and utter rubbish,” perhaps forgetting that “rubbish” can be a key ingredient in popular fiction. However, Reverend Sagovsky acknowledged the harmless fun of The Da Vinci Code with the hope that those who come to the Abbey seeking the Code may learn about “authentic Christianity” through osmosis.

The nave offers visitors a spectacular sight.

By early 2005, in round two of the Abbey versus the novelist, Westminster officials provided a fact sheet to their tour guides so they could set the record straight when queried about the book.

Despite condemning the novel on theological grounds, the Abbey’s fact sheet was remarkably light in terms of actual contested facts.

The Da Vinci Code states that the Abbey operates metal detectors for security. “Not true,” says the Abbey. The novel claims that 18th century poet Alexander Pope delivered the eulogy at Sir Isaac Newton’s funeral in the Abbey. Also untrue, according to the fact sheet.

And just try making a copy of a brass grave marker in the Abbey, as Dan Brown’s bestseller describes. “Brass rubbings are not allowed,” warns the Abbey.

Round three of the Abbey versus The Da Vinci Code came when moviemakers sought to film inside the historic church. Negotiations were under way when Westminster Abbey’s leaders balked and the filmmakers relocated to another ancient cathedral, in Lincoln, England.

Refusing permission to film seems consistent with the Abbey’s earlier statements, but that didn’t stop Sir Ian McKellen, who plays historian Sir Leigh Teabing in the movie, from speculating about the Abbey’s hidden motives. On his Website, Sir Ian surmises “As no explanation for this reversal has been forthcoming, dark rumors worthy of Dan Brown’s own imagination have been whispered abroad.”

Ahhh … movie hype. Westminster Abbey, unlike most Anglican churches and cathedrals, is under the direct control of England’s monarch. Actor Ian McKellen adds his own conspiracy theory — that the Queen kept movie cameras out of Westminster Abbey during the filming of The Da Vinci Code.

Originally the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery, which closed in 1539, Westminster Abbey is one of England’s most important Gothic structures and a national shrine. Its official name is t he Collegiate Church of St. Peter, but this name is rarely used.

Situated west of the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey is the traditional coronation site for English monarchs. It was originally home to a Norman monestary, of which there are little or no traces left. The Abbey standing today was built by King Edward the Confessor around 1050, and was consecrated in 1065.

The ancient Abbey is filled with monuments and tombs, including that of Sir Isaac Newton, whose grave plays a minor part in The Da Vinci Code. Any Abbey visitor is free to seek out what the book refers to as this tomb of “a knight a Pope interred.” Feel free to remember, or ignore, the fact that Alexander Pope (“a Pope”) didn’t really read the eulogy at the funeral of the great scientist.

Having gawked at Sir Isaac’s final resting place, Da Vinci Code fans make their way to the Abbey’s octagonal Chapter House, site of a dramatic showdown in the book. The Chapter House is where Robert Langdon, the book’s heroic main character, tosses a cryptex cylinder toward the ceiling when evil Sir Teabing threatens to shoot co-hero Sophie Neveu.

The scene is pure fiction, but an event that did happen here had tremendous historical significance. In 1257, the King’s Council met in the Chapter House. The Council was the precursor to the English Parliament, and from it sprang a lineage that can be traced forward all the way to the United States Congress and other modern legislatures, worldwide.

Before heading off to find other book and movie sights in London — and there are many — visitors to Westminster Abbey should set aside The Da Vinci Code and seek out some of the other hidden gems of the Abbey, many of which don’t appear in Dan Brown’s novel.

Much of the Abbey is open to, and sometimes overrun with, tourists. Long before The Da Vinci Code, the Abbey was forced to institute a program to “restore the calm” to the sanctuary so that worshipers could, in fact, worship despite the din of touring crowds. A guided verger’s tour of the Abbey is one way for visitors to sample some of the church’s long history without aimlessly wandering the huge complex.

But much still lies hidden behind the scenes at Westminster Abbey. The Abbey’s library and muniment (document) room are not on the usual tour route. Up a narrow staircase off the east cloister, the library’s reading room is open to the public weekdays during limited hours.