Unlocking the codes in Michelangelo's defiant masterpiece

Date: Wednesday 9 July 2008

Time: 7.30 pm

Venue: The Spiro Ark Centre - 25-26 Enford St, W1

Price: £7 / £5 for full time students and Spiro Ark membership card holders

In collaboration with JR Books

BENJAMIN BLECH & ROY DOLINER

Erudite, beautifully written and highly readable, this provocative book finally cracks the Michelangelo code! The Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican is the largest fresco painting on earth, in one of the holiest places in the Christian world. Now, thanks to the thorough cleaning of the chapel, and the diligent work of scholars, its ‘true colours’ are gradually being revealed.

Millions flock to see this masterpiece every year but very few people know that the legendary sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti, who spent four and a half years in a tortuous

position painting it, had a hidden agenda. He embedded subversive messages into his great work of art, encouraging people to rebel against the repressive and hypocritical

Roman Catholic Church of the time. He even included

insulting gestures at the corrupt and syphilitic Pope Julius II, who had commanded him to paint it! Fortunately for Michelangelo, the ceiling is so high and so overwhelmingly detailed that his coded messages escaped the scrutiny of the papal ‘censors’ at the time.

None of the Vatican’s guide books mention these hidden messages. And they certainly don’t mention the fact that though there are more than 300 figures on the Sistine ceiling, not one is from the New Testament! Indeed, Michelangelo studied Judaism while he was being educated in Florence, and The Sistine Secrets eloquently argues that he used his multi-layered painting to ‘preach’ Jewish wisdom and tolerance between all religions.

Professor Benjamin Blech is an internationally recognised author and lecturer and is the recipient of the American Educator of the Year award. Roy Doliner is a specialist on the Renaissance in Rome, and is often a ‘docent’ to visitors at the Vatican museums.