In the famous Medici burial chapels in Florence, a long-hidden supposed hiding place of Michelangelo will now be accessible to visitors. The Renaissance artist (1475-1564) is said to have stayed in the secret room for two months in 1530 to avoid the revenge of the powerful Medici family. On the walls are fine charcoal sketches attributed to Michelangelo, Bargello Museum director Paola D’Agostino said on Tuesday.
The Renaissance artist is said to have stayed in this room for two months.
(Photo: Francesco Fanfani/AP)
The small room – ten meters long, three meters wide and two and a half meters high – was discovered by chance in 1975 when the then operator of the funerary chapels at the Florentine church of San Lorenzo, Paolo Dal Poggetto, was looking for another exit for visitors. The room was previously used as a coal storage facility, D’Agostino continued. The restorers then found the charcoal sketches under two layers of plaster.
Only four visitors at a time are allowed to visit the “secret Michelangelo Room” from November 15th.
Well hidden: The room is accessed via a narrow staircase – and through a horizontal door.
(Photo: Luigi Navarra/AP)
The Medici funerary chapels, which also contain numerous sculptures by Michelangelo, are popular with tourists. The members of the ruling Medici family are buried in them. The banking family ruled Florence for over three centuries, and their palaces and art treasures still shape the city today.
Visitors can combine a visit to the hiding place with a tour of the Galleria dell’Accademia, also in Florence: Michelangelo’s statue of David can be seen there, among other things.
(Photo: Yara Nardi/Reuters)
Initially, the family supported Michelangelo. Pope Clement VII – himself a Medici – commissioned him to create works of art. But the artist fell out of favor with the Medici in 1527. In the course of an uprising that drove the ruling family into exile, he betrayed his former patrons and allied himself with their opponents.
When the family came back to power a few years later, the artist feared for his life, hid in the room and planned new works using his wall sketches. When Michelangelo was free again, it turned out that he had nothing to fear.