Robert Langdon, #1
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
Contents
72
Overview
Langdon’s search seems stalled when the southwest line from the Chigi Chapel appears to lead to no church, but a soldier’s knowledge of St. Peter’s Square reveals the crucial clue. Langdon realizes that the Air marker is not a freestanding statue but Bernini’s West Ponente bas-relief, shifting the hunt toward St. Peter’s Square just as the next murder deadline approaches.
The discovery renews the Guard’s momentum, but the BBC reporters quietly following the convoy raise the risk that the unfolding crisis will become public.
Summary
Langdon returns from the scaffolding without identifying the next church. Vittoria reports that Olivetti and the soldiers have found no likely churches southwest of the Chigi Chapel, and a map confirms that the line avoids Rome’s major old churches before reaching St. Peter’s Square.
Olivetti presses Langdon on whether the direction from Habakkuk and the Angel is certain, because the Guard must act quickly before the next cardinal is killed. Langdon insists the angel points southwest, but rejects St. Peter’s as the answer at first because the poem suggests sites in Rome, not Vatican City, and because he sees no Bernini statue connected to Air there.
A soldier points out that St. Peter’s Square has long been disputed as Roman territory and mentions a marble feature near the central obelisk. Under questioning, the soldier describes an elliptical marble block carved with a gust of wind at the base of the monolith.
Langdon realizes his error: he has been looking only for sculpture in the round, but relief is also sculpture. He identifies the carving as the West Ponente, or Respiro di Dio, the Breath of God, a bas-relief representing Air. Because Bernini designed St. Peter’s Square, Langdon concludes that this is the second Illuminati marker.
Olivetti’s group immediately races from Piazza del Popolo toward St. Peter’s Square in a caravan of Alfa Romeos. In the rush, no one notices that the BBC van follows them.
Who Appears
- Robert LangdonIdentifies the Air marker as Bernini’s West Ponente bas-relief after reconsidering sculpture.
- Vittoria VetraSupports the search and suggests St. Peter’s Square might fit the southwest line.
- Commander OlivettiDirects the Guard’s investigation and mobilizes the convoy toward St. Peter’s Square.
- Vatican guardReveals the wind-carved marble block near the obelisk in St. Peter’s Square.
- BBC reportersFollow Olivetti’s departing convoy unnoticed, threatening public exposure of the crisis.