Secret Room Used for Coal May Hold Michelangelo Art

Visitors will soon be allowed in long-hidden space in Florence's Medici Chapel to view wall drawings
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 1, 2023 8:38 AM CDT
Secret Room Used for Coal May Hold Michelangelo Art
Delicate charcoal drawings that some experts have attributed to Michelangelo are seen on the walls of a room used to store coal until 1955 inside Florence's Medici Chapel, in Italy, on Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Silvia Stellacci)

Just four at a time, visitors soon will be allowed access to a long-hidden space inside Florence's Medici Chapel, where delicate charcoal drawings sketched on the walls have been attributed by some experts to Michelangelo. The secret room—a 10-by-33-foot space—was discovered in 1975, when officials were searching for a new exit from the Medici Chapel to accommodate increasing visitors. The museum's then-director, Paolo Dal Poggetto, "firmly believed that they were by Michelangelo,'" says the current director, Paola D'Agostino.

A fierce debate ensued and continues to this day, per the AP. "The major scholars of Michelangelo's drawings dismissed the attributions" at the time of discovery nearly 50 years ago, she said. "Others had a more moderate view, in the sense they [thought] that some could be by Michelangelo and others could be by followers. So the debate is ongoing." The room was used to store coal until 1955, then sealed closed and forgotten for decades below a trapdoor that was, in turn, hidden beneath furniture. The drawings themselves were discovered under two layers of plaster.

According to Dal Poggetto's theory, Michelangelo hid in the tiny space from "the wrath of Pope Clement VII" for supporting a short-lived republic that overthrew the Medicis, sketching studies for some of his projects. They include sketches believed to be the legs of Giuliano de' Medici, as included in the New Sacristy near the secret room's entrance.

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For most of the last 50 years, access to the room has been restricted. Officials decided to open the room to the public on a limited basis and will alternate exposure to LED lights with extended periods of darkness to protect the works. Starting Nov. 15, up to 100 visitors will be granted access each week by reservation, four at a time, spending a maximum of 15 minutes inside the space. (More Michelangelo stories.)

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