23 Years Ago, This Popular Novel Stayed #1 on Best-Seller Lists Throughout the Entire Month of August

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It’s been over two decades since The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown first hit bookstores. Back then, no one could have predicted what kind of impact it would have on the literary world.

The 2003 novel has continued to be a successful book to this day, but especially so when it first came out in spring of that year. It quickly became the must-have, must-read book of the century.

Brown is known for his dramatic thrillers, but his work especially came to light upon the publishing of The Da Vinci Code. Since then, it’s been translated into 44 languages and has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, per Audible.

Despite its success, the novel has also met its fair share of criticism, due in part to what scholars say are historical inaccuracies as well as backlash to what some call a reinvention of Christian history.

In fact, it’s been banned in several countries, including India, Pakistan, Lebanon and Samoa, due to its depiction of religious content and alleged inaccuracies, according to the Banned Library podcast.

Nevertheless, the mystery thriller is one of the best-selling novels of all time. Take a trip down memory lane to unpack some of its most important moments and why it remains an important staple on the bookshelf today.

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The 2003 Publishing Phenomenon: What Was the Mystery Novel of the Summer?

By August 2003, The Da Vinci Code still held its place on bestseller lists across the country. And it remained there for many months later—the book spent over two years on TheNew York Times bestseller list, including 57 weeks that it sat in the #1 spot, per Audible. It’s not hard to know why, given its gripping plot, controversial story and its setting at one of the most famous museums in the world, the Louvre.

By the end of 2003, it had sold more than 5. 7 million hardcover copies around the world, making it that year’s #1 fiction bestseller, according to Publishers Weekly. In comparison, the fiction book that held that spot prior, The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller’s, sold over 4.3 million copies.

The mystery novel was certainly a publishing phenomenon. Librarian Anaiah Erdtsieck says that might have to do with its exciting plot.

“The work’s fast pacing kept its readers hooked, especially those who might not normally be long-form readers,” she tells Parade.

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Is ‘The Da Vinci Code’ Based on a True Story? Unpacking the Controversy

The Da Vinci Code‘s plot-line follows Robert Langdon, a Harvard University professor of symbology who is put up to the task of solving the murder of a curator at the Louvre, an “historically inspired thriller that takes readers on a tour of European art,” explains Erdtsieck.

“When a murdered body is found in the pose of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci with an eerie summons for the professor, Langdon is thrust into a quest for clues alongside the deceased’s granddaughter, police cryptographer Sophie Neveu,” she reveals.

As the professor seeks to uncover the message of the dead man, he trails through the continent with pursuers on his tail, “whose sole mission is to keep the secret from getting out, no matter if that leaves Langdon dead or alive,” says Erdtsieck.

Whether The Da Vinci Code is a true story or firmly fiction is a controversy that has kept the story alive for years.

If you ask Erdtsieck, the book employs historical and religious concepts that are all too common to people, whether they grew up with them or learned them in school, and then begs the question: “What if?” she says.

“What if the holy grail were to be found? What if the Catholic Church is hiding centuries-old secrets? What if Jesus actually had descendants? This is the stuff of legends and the kinds of questions religious skeptics want us to be asking,” she explains.

In the Associates for Biblical Research, author David Witmer debunks many religious ideas in the book, and states that “none of the concepts of The Da Vinci Code are new; Brown’s novel is a contemporary compilation of legends circulating for centuries.”

Some of those concepts, he writes, include a lack of historical evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, or that the books “San Greal” documents aren’t actually real.

However, in a PhilStar Global interview in 2006, the book’s author, Dan Brown, says that while elements like the characters themselves aren’t real, the “artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals depicted in this novel all exist.”  

Erdtsieck agrees and says that much of the novel’s art pieces, locations and historical details are in fact accurate. She believes that “this is what makes the story his protagonist Robert Langdon unravels so compelling.”

“That real facts and evidence are used to speculatively re-examine history in a new light, even if the ultimate findings have not been corroborated,” she says.

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Symbology and Codes: The Formula That Kept Millions Turning Pages

There are so many reasons to love The Da Vinci Code, and to perhaps find yourself reading it over and over again. But what is it that makes it such an addictive read? While symbology isn’t a real profession you can go into or study at Harvard, per Slate, it’s not hard to crack this code.

Erdtsieck says the book’s success is due to many elements, but one theory she has is that its success is actually quite similar to the Indiana Jonesmovies.

“To use a film metric, both are four-quadrant pieces of media—works of popular art that appeal to four major demographics in the market: under-age-25 women, under-age-25 men, over-age-25 women and over-age-25 men,” she explains.

There’s a huge fascination with conspiracy theories, not just among Americans, but anyone who might gravitate towards a novel like this one.

In that case, it allows readers to get a sense of something exciting to unravel and ponder deeply upon, building “upon popular knowledge,” reveals Erdtsieck, while also “giving readers a taste of world travel and exploration.”

“This led it to a wider audience than simply those who would already pick up the latest adult thriller novel,” she states.

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The ‘Robert Langdon’ Books in Order

Robert Langdon isn’t just the protagonist in The Da Vinci Code. The Robert Langdon novel series follows him in these six novels by Dan Brown. He’s portrayed as a Harvard University professor of symbology, but the fictional plot lines differ. Here are the books in order:

1. ‘Angels & Demons’ (2000)

2. ‘The Da Vinci Code’ (2003)

3. ‘The Lost Symbol’ (2009)

4. ‘Inferno’ (2013)

5. ‘Origin’ (2017)

6. ‘The Secret of Secrets’ (2025)

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Where To Watch ‘The Da Vinci Code’ Movie Today

In 2006, the moment many fans of The Da Vinci Code had been waiting for came to fruition: the novel was finally turned into a film. And not just that; it was the first of three eventual movies in the Robert Langdon film series.

The Da Vinci Code stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, with Hanks playing the same character in all three of the franchise’s films. Audrey Tautou, who plays cryptologist and Langdon’s mystery-solving partner, Sophie Neveu, only appears in the first movie.

Again, this is the first film out of three, with film icon Ron Howard as the director for the whole trilogy.

With the success of The Da Vinci Code as a movie, it makes sense that they went the franchise route. They chose to adapt Brown’s debut novel, Angels & Demons, the second in the trilogy of movies, produced three years later in 2009. Hanks stars alongside Ewan McGregor as Fr. Patrick McKennaor. Then again in 2016, they released the final film, Inferno, with Felicity Jones playing a doctor who helps Langdon (still Hanks) in his big escape.

Curious where you can stream the films? Down below, find where you’ll conveniently be able to watch them.

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• Anaiah Erdtsieck is a school librarian and is on Instagram and TikTok as @lookshesbooked.