Iglesia de Santa María Madalena, Isla do Pico

The Tour Magdela
The Tour Magdela is a spectacular structure. It defines the village of Rennes-le-Chteau and provides definitive clues to the secret that Abbe Saunière unearthed.

The Tour Magdala © Andrew Gough

Once again we turn to Margaret Starbird, who informs us that ‘the word magdala in Hebrew means ‘tower’ (with connotations also of “stronghold” or “fortress“)’. We shall keep this in mind as we review the Tour Magdela’s many clues.

We mentioned before the frequent occurrence of the numbers 22 and 17 in the Rennes-le-Chteau legend. Well, here we find some of the most revealing examples:

* Two sets of 11 steps (22) lead up to the observatory platform that leads to the Tour Magdela.

* An anomalous tile on the floor of the Tour Magdela points up a 22 step stone staircase where a lone window points unambiguously at a grotto, approximately a mile in the distance.

* The ancient place-name of the Grotto is ‘Grotte du Fournet – dite de la Magdeleine’, which translates ‘The Burial Site of the Mary Magdalene‘.

* The offset of the lone window to the grotto in the distance is, astoundingly, 22 degrees (see Blog entry ‘Fear and Loathing in Rennes-le-Chteau‘ for an account of my discovery of this alignment)

The Grotto of Mary from the Tower of Mary © Andrew Gough