The photos posted to Dan Brown’s Facebook page and his Twitter account may (or may not) provide hints and clues to the forthcoming novel. You might want to search along as I try to identify the items. Feel free to e-mail me at tom.beyer@middlebury.edu

This symbol re-occurs. Is it central to the novel’s theme? What is it? Greg Taylor, author of The Guide to Dan Brown’s the Lost Symbol, believes it is Dan Brown’s own brand, containing both a D and B with their own reflection.

Robert Langdon, the Harvard Professor of Symbology, is now apparently worthy of quotation. Of course, Symbology as a discipline or department at Harvard, is as fictional as Professor Langdon himself.

OM. The Hindu sacred name in Sanskrit consisting of the vowel and consonant letter. After the novel’s appearance it became clear that this pointed to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

The double headed eagle with crown is present in many royal coat of arms, including Russia’s. For the novel the connection between the use in Constantinople and the Turks is particularly relevant.
But this is the shield of Castilla y León, used in the Spanish coat of arms. More specifically, as Greg Taylor informed me, this is the coat of arms of Toledo.

Dan Brown is at the entrance, but of which church or cathedral?

Is this a painting of the River Styx?

Is this the Lake of Ice from the Ninth Circle of Hell?