Research has suggested the Necropolis is a landscaped metaphor and its layout mirrors the masonic journey "from darkness to light".

Later this month, Mr Scott will tell the world's first conference on the history of Freemasonry that the land may be one of Europe 's most important masonic sites.

The cemetery could attract crowds to rival the masonic-influenced Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh , which featured in Dan Brown's bestselller The Da Vinci Code.

Mr Scott said: " The more I looked, the more I began to see a pattern emerge and the Necropolis began to look like a very large and very solid representation of masonic ideals and symbolism.

" The Necropolis is clearly a symbolic landscape and my research indicates that we should start to think of it as a freemasonic landscape."

The Necropolis opened in 1833 and was designed by a group of men from the Merchants' House of Glasgow, most of whom are understood to have been masons.

Visitors entering the cemetery cross a bridge, and pass through two pillars before they climb a hill.

The path is supposed to represent the masonic journey, from west to east, according to experts.

More than 230 professors from across Europe , America and Asia will gather in Edinburgh later this month to discuss the theory.

Freemasonry is widely believed to have firm Scottish roots with the earliest surviving minutes of a masonic lodge dating back to Edinburgh in 1598.

Notable Scottish masons have included Robert Burns; Sir Walter Scott, Jimmy Shand and Jock Stein.