VATICAN CITY -- A 450-year-old receipt has provided proof that Michelangelo kept a private room in St. Peter's Basilica while working as the pope's chief architect, Vatican experts said.While going through the basilica archives for an exhibit on the 500th anniversary of the church last year, researchers came across an entry for a key to a chest "in the room in St. Peter's where Master Michelangelo retires."
At age 71, the Renaissance painter and sculptor whose frescoes adorn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican was put in charge of the restoration of St. Peter's basilica by Pope Paul III in 1546, a job he held until his death in 1564.
"We now know that Michelangelo definitely had a private space in the basilica," said Maria Cristina Carlo-Stella, who runs the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the office where the basilica's archives are kept. "The next step is to identify it."
The ink-scripted entry for the key was contained in a parchment-covered volume listing the expenditures of the Fabbrica for the years 1556-1558. It refers to the payment of 10 scudos to the blacksmith who forged the key but offers no details about the chest or the location of the room.
The Fabbrica, whose documents date from as far back as 1506, was originally housed in the right wing of the basilica. Research indicates that artisans had been allotted lodgings there, leading experts to direct their search for Michelangelo's studio to that area.
One detail the 450-year-old receipt does reveal is that Michelangelo had requested a very expensive key.
According to archivist Simona Turriziani, 10 scudos in the 1550s was more than the monthly salary of many of the artisans working on the basilica.
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