Which is the True Grail?

It’s no coincidence that several artifacts are referred to as the holy grail of one sort or another to denote its extreme importance.  The Holy Grail itself has long been a highly sought after and coveted item with a legend of its own to accompany its mystique.  And few artifacts are quite so powerful as well.  It’s said the Holy Grail can grant ever lasting life to whoever drinks from it.  But where is it?  The question has been asked for centuries.

Said to by the cup used at the last supper by Christ when he shared his wine with his disciples and gave birth to the ritual of communion, the Grail later caught the blood of Christ as he hung on the cross days later.  It is said that after the blood was caught in the cup, Joseph of Arimathea secreted the artifact away in Glastonbury England where it disappeared.  But while this is the most common interpretation of the grail legend, it is not the only one.  The Grail was also said to be quite a bit different than most media representations of it.

For example, before it was a cup the Grail was a cauldron with supernatural powers that bestowed upon viewers the gift of knowledge if they looked into it.  Still others suggest that our perception of the grail as a physical artifact are wrong, and that the true Grail is nothing more than an ancient and powerful form of wisdom – a sort of divine knowledge.  The legendary King Arthur is said to have spent quite a long time looking for the Grail and gathering his knights in an effort to discover its true location and reclaim it in their virtuous realm.  This quest, however, is often suggested to have ended in disappointment as the Arthurian legend suggests the artifact was never found.  But one need not look so far as legend to discover the final resting place of the Grail as many different owners have laid claim to the artifact saying they possess the one true grail.

The Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral is said to possess the “Holy Chalice,” suggested to be the grail.  This cup, according to records was taken to Rome shortly after the death of Christ to Rome for safe keeping before being transported once again two centuries later to Huesca Spain.  Of course there are those who believe this and many other chalices like it may have been replaced with a duplicate to protect the original – something that often follows grail claims.  Some have even suggested the originals are sought by power hungry cabals the likes of which you might expect to see in a Dan Brown novel.  There is also the chalice of Genoa, which is particularly contested as the Grail since an accident revealed that one of the emeralds within it was made of colored glass which shattered upon impact on its way back from Paris.

The Grail legend has grown so much, in fact, that any one seeking it would have the Herculean task of not only discovering the location of the grail but also proving to the public that this one was more genuine than any of the other imitations.