The Da Vinci Code is a best-selling mystery novel by Dan Brown. The story follows symbologist Robert Langdon as he tries to solve a murder mystery. The novel is set in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, where Langdon is called upon to decipher clues left behind by Leonardo da Vinci.
The book was published on April 18, 2003.
The novel centers on a French detective named Robert Langdon who, along with his American counterpart, Dr. Sienna Brooks, investigates an attempt by the Vatican to suppress a book about Jesus Christ’s secret life. The book contains coded messages supposedly written by Leonardo da Vinci himself that reveal secrets about Jesus’ family tree, as well as clues to the location of some lost paintings by da Vinci.
It was adapted into a film of the same name, directed by Ron Howard. The film was released in 2006 and stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing, Jean Reno as Inspector Jacque Rousseau and Alfred Molina as Jacques Saunière. Starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, it grossed over $750 million worldwide on its way to becoming one of the highest-grossing movies in history.
The novel has been translated into 43 languages, and it won an Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime in 2005. It became the fastest-selling hardback adult novel in history with over eight million copies sold in its first nine months.
In addition to being nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director (Ron Howard), Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman), and Best Editing (John Ottman), it won two: Best Visual Effects (Lee Smith) and Best Sound Editing (Reinhard Hemmann).
