Factual error: Part of the "Wanted" poster in France reads "2,000 francs de récompence." 1) numbers are not written with a comma in French, but with a space (i.e. 2 000); 2) "reward" in French is spelled "récompense," not "récompence." (00:07:35)
Factual error: When Van Helsing goes to Rome, the subtitle refers to the Vatican as "Vatican City". By the 1880's the Pope had lost all his temporal power, and his previous lands (The Papal States) were taken by the new Italy. The Vatican had no lands or authority over any of Italy or Rome. The Pope was a virtual prisoner inside the Vatican. Only with the Lateran treaty in 1929 (with Mussolini) did the Vatican gain independence as the "State of Vatican City". (00:13:10)
Factual error: On the map, Budapest is indicated to be just as large as Transylvania, or at least of the same size category. Apart from Budapest being only a city and Transylvania a pretty large county, Budapest (taking its 19th century size) is not more than 500 square kilometres while the Transylvanian region is circa 57000 square kilometres. (01:11:40)
Factual error: The Hungarian Parliament appears both in the film's Budapest and on the official posters. The film is set in the 1880's. The Parliament was built in the 1900's. (01:18:30)
Factual error: In the beginning of the scene after Van Helsing kills off one of the three female vampires, there is a map behind Friar Carl depicting the whole of the Carpathian basin, which, at the time, included the Austro-Hungarian empire as well as a part of Romania. However, the whole area is labeled "Transylvania", which is only a region of Romania.
Factual error: After falling from the bridge, the wagon descends into the canyon for 35 seconds before hitting the bottom. This equates to approximately 9,500 feet (1.8 miles) of falling. There is no canyon anywhere near that deep in Eastern Europe.
Factual error: In the scene where Anna is carried in the air with the city of Budapest appearing in the background, there are two columns in the top right corner which haven't been edited out even though they are chimneys of factories built in the 1950's.
Answer: Gabriel is the true name of the character described elsewhere as the Left Hand of God, responsible for Dracula's original death. Dracula uses this to try to remind Van Helsing of their history together. The implication is that Van Helsing is actually the archangel Gabriel, credited with (among other things) announcing the pending birth of Christ to Mary his mother, Joseph his father, and Elizabeth mother of John the Baptist.
Phoenix