Holy Grail Found in Da Vinci’s Last Supper

Status: True (in my opinion)
Here's a bit of a mystery. I received an email from someone called Prastil who wrote, "Check this hoax out: DaVinciGrail.com." The site he directed me to claims that the holy grail has finally been discovered in Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. For centuries people have wondered why Da Vinci omitted the grail from his painting, given that the grail is one of the central elements of the Last Supper story. Its absence has spawned a variety of theories, such as the one elaborated in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, that the holy grail was Mary Magdalene's uterus (and that the figure to the left of Jesus in the painting is Mary Magdalene). But DaVinciGrail.com claims that Da Vinci actually did include the grail in his painting, if you look hard enough. He concealed it as a symbol on the wall above the head of St. Bartholomew, the disciple at the extreme left. (I highlighted the cup in the image below).

It may seem a bit farfetched that after centuries someone discovered a detail in the Last Supper that no one had ever seen before, but as far as I can tell, that's the case. The man who noticed the grail in the painting was Gary Phillips, a Michigan computer programmer (and cryptologist). He was aided in his discovery by the fact that the painting was recently cleaned, revealing details previously concealed by dirt and grime. Of course, Phillips could be seeing a shape that was not intentionally placed there by Da Vinci, but once you see the cup, it seems so obvious that it's hard to believe it wasn't placed there on purpose. The legitimacy of Phillips's claim to have discovered this hidden detail is noted on a number of sites, such as About.com's Art History blog.

Now here's where things get strange. Phillips has nothing to do with DaVinciGrail.com. Instead, Phillips maintains a separate site called Realm of Twelve. DaVinciGrail.com is registered to (drumroll, please) Prastil, the same guy who emailed me telling me that the site was a hoax. Why did Prastil claim his site was a hoax? Was he trying to get me to write about his site, not thinking that I would check the domain registration? I have no idea (and I wrote about it anyway). But Phillips's discovery of the grail hidden as a symbol on the wall in The Last Supper seems real enough to me... unless there's some part of the story that I'm not clued in to. (Very possible.)
image

Art

Posted on Tue Sep 27, 2005


Comments

Oh and I forgot...Waldo is hidden right behind Jesus.

Da Vinci told me.
Posted by Juan  on  Sat May 20, 2006  at  11:58 AM
Ah, now I see where you're saying the extra hand is, Dan. You're looking at <a >this area</a> and seeing it as being <a >something like this</a>, with Peter's hand going down and some other person's arm reaching by him with the knife. I wasn't sure about that myself when I was first looking at all the hands in the painting, but after a bit I decided that it looked more like Peter was holding the knife <a > like this</a>.

Luckily, we don't have to go by guesswork on this. Da Vinci kept a lot of his papers and sketches well preserved, and among them are many of his preliminary sketches for "The Last Supper". <a >In one of them</a>, he works out how to have all the folds of fabric on Peter's arm. It also happens to show the position of Peter's arm and hand. So it is Peter holding the knife, as he rests his wrist on his hip and leans across to John (or to Mary, if that's what you want to think).
Posted by Accipiter  on  Sat May 20, 2006  at  02:54 PM
Ahhh bravo Accipiter 😛

i dont think its mary personally, but theres alot of people who do. But he does look very "camp" lol

oh and "Juan in Santiago" that made me laugh out load, nice one.
Posted by Dan  on  Sat May 20, 2006  at  05:20 PM
*Loud :s
Posted by Dan  on  Sat May 20, 2006  at  05:21 PM
Thanks 😉.
Posted by Juan  on  Sun May 21, 2006  at  10:28 AM
you al suck, christianity is fake. everything in the bible is wrong...
Posted by garff  on  Tue May 30, 2006  at  01:57 PM
I think the holy grail is Mary M. It makes sense, I mean Jesus was only human. Whats wrong with him having a wife and child? I think that the bible could be wrong...why not? people twist the truth to what other people want to here all the time; so maybe it wasn't ideal for jesus to have a wife that doesn't mean he didn't! people shouldn't be so close minded, i mean where you an eye witness...i didn't think so!
Posted by lisa  on  Fri Jun 02, 2006  at  09:59 PM
I personally feel that the true "identity" of the grail should remain secret. It adds a little of the much needed mystery we need to survive this boring life. I remember being slapped on the face and lectured by the pastor at my church for hours when I suggested that Mary Magdalene and Jesus had a relationship other than teacher and follower. For me to truly find out I was correct might be very damaging at my old age. Let it rest people. Who cares. And Da Vici is allowed to have his own opinion of what or who the grail is just like Dan Brown, you and I do.... so here's a thought... What if the grail wasnt Mary Magdalene or a chalice... what if it is Jesus' pet rottweiler named Grail? The choice is yours to make. I think that is that whole point. The grail is what you want it to be.
Posted by Renee  on  Tue Jun 06, 2006  at  12:48 PM
I want to do further research and find more information on the following statement. Does anyone have any information to share about this person's post below. I also did a "zoom-in" and found these letters and want to know if there is anyone out there who knows anything about these letters. READ BELOW...

Steven

...It's hard to see some of the letters, and I have no idea what they could be abbreviating, but here is what I can see of them. On the left side of the leftmost tympanum, from top to bottom, is "M", "SE", and "CO", and on the right side are "MX", "AN", and "PP". In the middle tympanum is "LV", "BE", "SE", and "DV", then "[possibly A]A", "[something]S[something]", and "AN". On the far right tympanum is painted "SF", "DVX", and then finally "AN" and "BA[possibly R or P]". I could be wrong on some of those letters; many are difficult to see. They remind me of the abbreviations for the names of saints that are often shown on religious icons, though.

Posted by Accipiter in the Northern Hemisphere on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 01:41 AM
Posted by Steven  on  Sun Aug 06, 2006  at  06:38 AM
please look above mary magdaline or who ever it is right above her arm in the original picture on this page the large one and you will see if you look closely a little wmachine that looks exactly like the robot uupnaut and right above that there is a white box with 2 black dots on it that looks exactly like the doorway rudolph gatenbrink discovered in the queens chamber in the great pyramid. with his robot uupnaut. by the way i think the restored version was meant to take out alot of things some people didnt want people to notice . if you compare the two side by side you can see they deliberatly just smudged out most of the painting it isnt cleaned up it is covered up. enough of that SOUND TRAVELS THROUGH TIME TIME TRAVEL THROUGH SOUND. catherine
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Fri Aug 25, 2006  at  09:07 PM
I honestly do believe that this is truly an exciting time. in that perhaps NOW is the time that was meant to be when people would notice the art. how smart were the masters indeed to not only be able to sneak the important messages through time so that the future would be able to see it because if it were written in books it would have been destroyed along with alot of knowledge from the past that was so rudely taken from us but the really wonderful part is that it has been right in front of their faces for centurys hidden in the religious art. it. The art is speaking to us folks. its why i wrote sound travels through time and time travel through sound ,its because. we are hearing the art. how fantastic to hear the light in a starry night. vangoghs that is . you see leonardo did create a time machine and it is the art.if we listen perhaps it will tell us something we dont know. personaly I think alot of the ancient art is awakining all over the world. at exactly the time it was suppost to . there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to take that away this time . it is the most beautiful exciting thing anyone can imagine . its called mans evolution. no one can stop it now not even the catholic church or george bush. catherine
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Sun Aug 27, 2006  at  07:49 PM
This is just a minor thing, but notice the disciple on which the grail is on, that particular disciple has very detailed hair, compared to most, it's quite possible that it was worked on more thoroughly and so after the painting started to disintegrate it just happened to form a the cup? ... a possibility
Posted by Rahul  on  Thu Nov 23, 2006  at  06:21 AM
In all this yackin about the supposed grail on the wall, I want to know how no one has seen that Peter is holding a cell phone!
Posted by KG  on  Wed Dec 13, 2006  at  05:49 AM
Is it just me, or has everyone failed to notice that the only person in this picture that looks like they are ready to go on a really bad trip is Peter? You remember Peter? The alleged first Pope? Judas may be left holding the bag, but Peter appears menacing. As for the disciple Jesus loved, she does appear rather feminine and round-bellied. But what is proven by Jesus' parenthood? I guess it just makes him human. Big shock. Maybe we should be trying to see men as trees, walking. Now there's a a grail story the size of say--a pyramid.
Posted by Deanna  on  Mon Dec 25, 2006  at  10:40 PM
hey on the linen tablecloth there is phone cords on both sides if you look close at jesusus left hand it looks like a glass phone reciever, and what are all those boxes all over the bottom of the tablecloth . they look like phone jacks to me.phone cords and recievers and jacks on linen which is what made me think linen is a fiber and fiber optics is a phone line add a n to line and you get linen, oh no telephone poles are big crosses. i gotta go
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Mon Jan 22, 2007  at  12:50 AM
i found the holy grail its in antarctica
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Sat Mar 31, 2007  at  08:57 PM
I am not a "Code" fan. But this is really weird. Someone is saying that if you mirror the painting image and supermimpose it that you can see a knight, a baby, and other images. I instead found what appears to be a headless knight and a demonic figure with two horns rising out of the headless knight. There is also a chalice in the center on the table.
Posted by bill  on  Sat Jul 28, 2007  at  08:44 AM
well i didnt physically find it. if you look at antarctica on google earth, you will see it too.and youll see something else if anyone sees this could you please reply just look at the whole continent as your looking through the ice. thanks catherine
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Sun Jul 29, 2007  at  11:40 AM
Although I am not one to being easily sucked into silly hoaxes or conspiracy theories...I do admire the life and the work of Leonardo Da Vinci. He was a mathamatical genius..which is profoundly found in all his works of art. He was also someone that was admonished by the church for various works he created, could very well have had an ax to grind..and could be a prankster himself, to say the least. When I first saw the "Chalice" above St. Bartholomew...I looked at that particular frame of the painting from a different view. What was missing in the painting was in plain view all along, as was this...here was the Chalice staring right at the person in plain view..not hidden at all. But look carefully just above and BEHIND the chalice...and a very familiar face is also staring right back at the viewer. Da Vinci loved to incorperate little subtle nuances in his artwork..and this one was no exception.
Posted by Don  on  Sun Jul 29, 2007  at  01:02 PM
that thing is so fake look at it in this link:
Posted by Kasem Ahmed  on  Mon Jul 30, 2007  at  07:13 PM
Kasem Ahman...what is your point? I looked at your link...cased closed. It's there...and more. It's a painting within a painting.
Posted by Don  on  Tue Jul 31, 2007  at  05:28 PM
Is it ever going to be possible to really know the true intentions of any long dead artist? The pattern pointed out is interesting though... It does seem to have a pattern to it... Interestingly, part of that pattern is a crescent shape which is an old symbol for the grail, but a crescent is a shape found in so many other obejects, so as I said before, how can we ever really know?
Posted by Mark  on  Wed Aug 01, 2007  at  12:11 PM
It is possible to know the intentions of an artist who died so long ago, so long as the artist had the skill to preserve his or her complete story. Leonardo did more than paint religious art. He was a skilled scientist (specializing in mechanics and optics), physician, visual artist, mathemetician, and philosopher among other things. I'm not convinced (nor is it important at this stage) that Leonardo believed in the details of the alternate story he portrayed in The Last Supper, but we can be certain he wanted to provide a more complete perspective of Christianity than the church did at that time (and perhaps still does).

My point is that Leonardo was absolutely clever enough to give us *his* complete story. Let's keep in mind the size of this particular painting, and that Leonardo did not have computer imaging tools available to him to encode his story. He is truly genius, and I am greatful for what he has done.

My speculation is that the Peter symbol in the painting is nothing more than to direct the viewer to the symmetry of the ceiling. Once symmetry is realized, we need to ask why, and as noted recently the image folds onto itself. The grail no longer rests on St. Bartholomew -- it rests on the purported knight templar -- or at least a man fully furnished with armor. There is probably more to the story, not in this painting alone, but in a series of Leonardo's religious art (including Madonna of the Rocks, et al).
Posted by gary phillips  on  Wed Aug 01, 2007  at  09:37 PM
Don there is no holy grail in the wall can u even see the wall do u even know which wall it is? there no grail in the wall if u really saw my link u could have seen it alright???
Posted by Kasem  on  Thu Aug 02, 2007  at  05:29 PM
Gary has a VERY valid point. Leonardo had problems with the "church" and DID incorporate HIS view of history in this painting. Many people need to get out of the "box" and READ history and what has been uncovered. Those that choose to be "Blinded" by the binders of what is now called the Bible will never understand the Jewish religion, culture or what they sought to accomplish. This includes Yeshua,and his brother James. And if you never knew that Jesus HAD a brother, and his brother was the head of the Church of Jerusalem until he was murdered...you need to educate yourself. Search out the Truth..and the Truth will set you free. At First you will be troubled, even angry...but then you can find peace.
Posted by Don  on  Thu Aug 02, 2007  at  06:30 PM
Kasem...click on THIS link and you can see it clearly. Don
Posted by Don  on  Fri Aug 03, 2007  at  04:38 PM
I'm sorry Kasem. That link won't work. Go to wickpedia and type in Leonardo Da Vinci. Scroll down to "The Last Supper" jpg.
Posted by Don  on  Fri Aug 03, 2007  at  04:55 PM
The Last Supper is a wedding party. I have the proof for it. It is so simple! 😊
Posted by Paul Lunetta  on  Sat Aug 04, 2007  at  06:18 PM
ok paul wheres your proof of the wedding party
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Mon Aug 06, 2007  at  12:52 AM
How interesting here's the real mystery some people can't see the very obvious depiction of a woman sitting at Christ's right hand side yet can plainly see a chalice obscurely painted (if it was) in the wall of the background hmmm...very curious. 😕
Posted by Colleen  on  Sun Aug 12, 2007  at  11:50 PM
The holy Grail is turly Mary Magdalene as you can see there is no grail and the grail is said to be to the right of Jesus and as you can see that the only things right of Jesus is his eating materials and of course Mary Magdalene if you look real hard you will notice a v shape between Mary and Jesus some believe that this v stands for the feminine power you will also notice some other things small that might also have a meaning to them
Posted by bri  on  Sat Sep 22, 2007  at  03:59 PM
Just read all of the posts and by the dates I see I'm well and truly late to the party but thought I needed to point out a little fact that no one has mentioned yet. Is it not the case that 1 of Jesus's followers should be missing?? did Judas not leave the supper before it started so as to betray Jesus ? if this is the case then there is indeed 1 too manny people at the table? seated to the right of christ is the one that he loved, non other than his wife Mary Magdelene, the chalace is her womb and she is carrying his baby?

Notice how the Bible make few references to Mary? infact before he is killed I recall that she is only mentioned as a prostitute who is being stoned "Let he who is without sin cast the first rock" why is she not mentioned again until he is nailed to the cross? and at this why is she mentioned at all? surely she would have had no reason to be mentioned unless she was in fact part of jesus's group of followers? you decide!

also to Cathy Im not sure of your claims as I do not see this machine by Mary's arm but you have sparked my interest in this box/tunnel that i can clearly see above jesus please give more details on what your thoughts are on this finding and while your at it take a look at the other doorway or what ever it is just beneeth the table below the guy in blue to the left of jesus under the stool?
Posted by Tony  on  Sun Oct 07, 2007  at  09:52 PM
Don't mean to rain on anyones parade, but the idea that the image above Bartholomew being the grail is hardly new, and is common knowledge amongst those who know the painting. It was noticed before Mr. Phillips was even born(unless he's over 150 years old).
Sorry if I burst your bubbles, but figured I should say something before Mr. Phillips embarrassed himself.
Posted by Some Guy  on  Mon Oct 08, 2007  at  07:22 PM
I don't think you're raining on anyone's parade! Let's just say that I "rediscovered" the grail symbol and went public with it. Why, in these past 150 years, has those who have known about it kept their silence? Could you point us to a publication that details the symbol as a grail? I know many of us have been looking. Regardless, I don't find it at all embarrassing to say I discovered the symbol, nor do I find it embarrassing for others who email me to report that they too have independently made the same discovery.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28298&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html ), the restoration began in 1979 (which puts us back to around 28 years ago). I am of the understanding that the symbol was completely covered up before that time -- say not even 30 years, let alone 150. I say this because if this symbol has already been known, it wasn't because it was seen first-hand in the painting.

I kindly ask that you show how this symbol was previously known to be a grail so that perhaps we can delve deeper into Leonardo's intent. Equally intriguing would be who has known -- and what else can they show us?!

kind regards,
gary
Posted by gary phillips  on  Mon Oct 08, 2007  at  09:06 PM
A couple of things, first I read that the quality of marerials in this painting were so poor that it had a tendancy to dereriorate rapidly and because of that it has been touched up repeatedly over the years. Secondly it was common practice to paint over existing paintings which sometimes will have the effect of ghostly type images in the paintings. When I look at the painting I can see several images that faintly resemble other things.
Posted by swtcl  on  Mon Oct 08, 2007  at  10:38 PM
tony in ireland please do what i say and you will be shocked and amazed. i dont know how to send a image or believe me i would . i can tell you how to get there tho. go to yahoo and type in rudolph gatenbrink then when you see all the choices pick the upnaut project. when you get there choose the upnaut story themn it gives you a bunch of choices pick the 1993 one then scroll down and you will see the same exact white square with the 2 black dots . then i would like to hear what you think . it is too exact to be just coincidence. after you see that then ill tell you what else it resembles and then youll really be shocked . catherine
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Fri Oct 26, 2007  at  04:57 AM
Yes it is defintly there in the unrestored version there are many factors that are not in the restored for one yes the cup of christ is in there an a few of his desciples are also not included in the restored version they were changed but its not noticable unless u compare the original to the restored
Posted by Bain  on  Sun Jan 13, 2008  at  06:44 PM
someone left the grail shaped beacon on again
Posted by XTOOLX462  on  Fri Jan 18, 2008  at  08:42 PM
ok now can someone tell me what why the newly discovered door in the great pyramid is in the painting of the last supper. wish i could tell rudolph gatenbrink. the scary part is if you look real close with a magnifing glass you can see the robot climbing up the shaft. whats up with that i think that no one need look any further for how to make a time machine its right bin front of our faces art is a time machine. how we use it i dont know yet. ta ta, catherine
Posted by catherine  on  Mon Feb 18, 2008  at  08:00 PM
Actually this was already a theory. If you zoom in on the painting (there's a high-def version online), you will see that it is actually geometric shapes. Is it meant to be a grail? no idea. Just thought i'd meantion
Posted by Josh  on  Fri Feb 22, 2008  at  06:42 PM
Hi their i was woundering dose the holy grail have a lid on top of it about and the cup about 20 to 30cm high and on the lid that covers the cup there are 4stars and stones on it and is it a goldy type with what looks like dride up wine or blood the cup looks like a gold colour, Oh and another that i found hidden looks redwood thats on a like a candle holder with stones that look like coloured purls also u can take off the cup off the candle holder. etc that's about 8cm high. And also another one that is blue pink red You know the colour that changes in the heat and a also sivle cup. Also a wood cup. And also At night if u go out side and look into the room that there in it lokks like pretty radiation.
Oh and i was wounder wheather u will tell me why my left are(side) is bigger than my right And i hear an anoging ringing noise from them.????
Posted by Brett josepeh James  on  Wed Feb 27, 2008  at  02:23 AM
As far as the grail on the wall as shown in the full picture, please look at a high resolution image of the actual painting.

The image looks nothing like a goblet or the yellow grail icon as drawn on the (ORIGINAL) painting.... Not even close. However you can see many things in clouds but that does not mean clownheads exist up there...

Also make sure that you are examining an image of the original painting... there are many versions some of which are noticeably different from the original... An image of the original here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Leonardo_da_Vinci_(1452-1519)_-_The_Last_Supper_(1495-1498).jpg
Posted by Andy  on  Wed Apr 09, 2008  at  01:19 PM
Hey, there are apparently many originals of the Last Supper. So which really is it? One person that ya might talk to might say that the original has Mary on the right side of Jesus, and then the next person that ya talk to will say that Mary is on the left side of Jesus. So which really is it? Is Mary really to be on the right or left side of Jesus in the original picture of the Last Supper? There are many differnt point of views that people have on this particular picture. Another thing, what is the point of everything that is happening in the picture? If you look, you will see that there is a man that has his pointer finger up at another person. The expression on his face does not look to pleasant, but still that may not be the whole point here. My question,... if anyone can anwser it, is what is the original picture of The Last Supper and what is the point of it? Is there really a reason to why there are people doing what they are doing? Can anyone please help me with this??
Posted by Jessica  on  Tue Apr 29, 2008  at  02:52 PM
The Holy Grail!! The real power of the holy grail is not the cup.The cup is POWERLESS!!!You all are missing one very,very important fact.That Jesus did not believe in man made material things,anybody can make a cup.The anwser is,The liquid that was in the cup,that made it POWERFUL!! HINT: It was not WINE!!It was a liquid. Think about it!!!
thank You!!!
Posted by positivemind  on  Sun Nov 16, 2008  at  10:22 PM
has anyone considered the fact that john is always sleeping in his paintings? and that maybe jesus and john were cut out of a larger image and that's why they fit together so perfectly. maybe Leonardo Da Vinci had a certain style of art and that's why his people always looked the same. He was self taught, maybe he based faces off of a model picture (Mona Lisa and Salai)
Posted by alanna  on  Fri Jan 02, 2009  at  07:11 PM
IF you could only see!!! I would tell you more,but you wouldn't believe me anyway.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by positivemind  on  Fri Jan 02, 2009  at  08:03 PM
positivemind those with eyes will see. those who have ears wil hear. come on , at this point im sure i will believe you. then ill tell you something you wont believe. catherine
Posted by catherine higgs  on  Sat Jan 03, 2009  at  10:52 PM
I know that I be talking in riddles, most of the time,but there is a reason for that,because the information that I know is so POWERFUL. That it could change the world.Who ever recieve this information will have POWER. I mean POWER.That is why, the ANCIENT incoded and hid ALL of the written texts,they didn't won't power to fall into the WRONG HANDS.Some of the texts have beeen found,but 99.99% of the people will never break the code. There is only 2-ways to break the code.(1)The Holy Spirit of God must touch you.(2)Somebody must tell you.
Posted by positivemind  on  Sun Jan 04, 2009  at  12:55 PM
ok... i see... the CUP is FAKE!

as you see... there are 12 disciples, 11 of them are boys and 1 is a girl (Mary Magdalene) the only girl in the last supper.

Jesus companion (wife or partner)

its a girl and if you edit the picture and put Mary on the shoulder of Jesus to the right it seems that they both join together in figure. and NOTE that the color that Jesus is wearing is the opposite of what Mary is wearing but like I said when joined together they form RED,BLUE,RED shirts...

NOTE: There is no cup in this painting but only glasses... so it is weird how they found out that wine is to be drunk.

btw, while Jesus was being crucified Mary was pregnant and she left for the blood of Jesus to be continued and raised. (unreliable source)

for others who wants to know just give me an e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

open for feedback/comments...

thanks! thats only my opinion!
Posted by inigo  on  Fri Jan 30, 2009  at  09:18 AM
what some are claiming to be the holy grail is a light fixture......you can see the same shape on the 2 columns behind the one you are talking about. look to the right side of the picture and you will see the same on those 3 columns, but they are lit up.
Posted by Tracey  on  Sat Feb 07, 2009  at  01:32 PM
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