ROSSLYN Chapel, the church near Edinburgh immortalised in the Da Vinci Code, is to invite wealthy benefactors to sponsor the refurbishment of its most famous features.

Trustees of the 15th-century Gothic chapel are expected to invite celebrity visitors such as Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Kirsty Wark and Tom Hanks to sponsor features including the apprentice pillar, intricately carved stonework and stained-glass windows.

The Rosslyn Chapel Trust says it needs to restore the chapel and create a larger visitor centre to cope with soaring visitor numbers following the success of Dan Brown’s book and the accompanying film, starring Hanks and Audrey Tautou.

The trust has already applied to Historic Scotland for funding and hopes to supplement any grant with money raised through sponsorship.

“We are looking at a £13m conservation plan, and inevitably, in order for them to approve that, we also have to do our own fundraising activities,” said Stuart Beattie, the trust’s project director.

“We will be looking for money from individuals from across the world. One of the things that we are considering is that people would be able to sponsor features of the chapel.

“While it might not be possible to have a plaque on a stained-glass window or a stone in the chapel, acknowledging the sponsorship, we may be able to have names engraved within the grounds.”

Several historic buildings have run sponsorship schemes in recent years to pay for renovations. Earlier this month, 9,000 private sponsors had their names carved in the walls of Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum, after raising £5.5m towards its restoration.

Fees paid by the production company who filmed scenes for the screen adaptation of the Da Vinci Code — believed to be around £100,000 — have been added to the fund.

However, there is concern in some quarters about the increasing commercialisation of the chapel.

Next weekend the Rev Michael Fass will leave his post as the chapel’s priest after growing “sick of the church becoming some kind of Disneyland tourist attraction”.

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