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Secrets of the Sistine Chapel

abcnews.go.com — Dr. Arnold Nesselrath, the curator of the Vatican Museums, says people flock to the Sistine Chapel because "it's one of the greatest works of mankind that were ever produced and it's one of the greatest treasures of art." But there are those who look at the 500-year-old frescos — and see hidden messages.

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  • louiebaur, on 04/28/2008, -5/+2Watch out for the hidden messages
    • DiggzDE, on 04/28/2008, -1/+4I think that article just tried to secretly insult my mother. Should I write a book about it?
      • PaulOwen, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3If you look at the frescos walking backwards, you can see images of the devil copulating.
    • OwdenBowden, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Jesus was Jewish.
      • alphaterminus, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2But his philosophy was more Eastern than anything. Jesus was a Jewish Hippie. I like Jesus, I don't like the ***** that the apostle Paul inserted into the Bible, nor most of the douchebags that followed him over the centuries, and still use Paul's delusional ***** today to manipulate people.
        • grimward, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I too like the message that jesus represents.. "be kind" but I'm completely anti-christian.
      • doctechnical, on 04/28/2008, -0/+5That would explain the lousy tip at the Last Supper.



        /I keed! I keed!
        • Malacandra95, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1I know you're kidding, but here's something interesting from my personal experience: I worked at a kosher restaurant in NY that had two clienteles: orthodox Jews, and vegetarian "new agers".

          The Jews were great tippers. The "new agers? Not so much.
    • Lyk4n, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1Just burn it..
  • davidg11, on 04/28/2008, -22/+8This is so lame. 34 diggs. One comment and it makes the front page? Something is wrong with Digg's algorithim.
    Sorry....I thought it was my turn to be the douchebag who complains about which stories make on the front page of Digg.
    • halleyscomet, on 04/28/2008, -3/+2Well, if it got those diggs in a very short time frame, then it would make SENSE for it to hit the front page. Breaking news for example would be digg up fast and may get few to no comments for the first few dozen diggs.

      Grow up and stop whining like a little girlie-man. Put on your big girl panties, suck it up and deal.
    • judicar, on 04/28/2008, -2/+1Why is this invariably the second comment for every article. It's easier for articles in low traffic categories to reach the front page, it's normal.
    • antipoet, on 04/28/2008, -2/+1Don't worry about it. It happens to the best of us.
    • davidg11, on 04/28/2008, -4/+1Apparently you morons didn't get that I was mocking the others who do this all the time.
    • MrESaulved, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1The algorithim is a lie.
    • ElBeh, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1We did not invent the algorithm. The algorithm consistently finds Jesus. The algorithm killed Jeeves.
      The algorithm is banned in China. The algorithm is from Jersey. The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
      This is not the algorithm. This is close.


      If you did not get that then you need to read more xkcd.
  • judicar, on 04/28/2008, -2/+16Cue 250 Flying Spaghetti Monster jokes.
    • Cloud7654, on 04/28/2008, -6/+5Touched by His noodly appendage.
    • ffttoteof, on 04/28/2008, -2/+4Q: Did you hear about the Flying Spaghetti Monster who attempted to drive to EuroDisney?
      A: he saw a sign saying: "EuroDisney Left" so he went home.


      Did you hear about the Flying Spaghetti Monster who put under Education on his job application, 'Hooked On Phonics'...


      Q: What did the Flying Spaghetti Monster girl name his pet Zebra?
      A: Spot.


      Q: Why did the Flying Spaghetti Monster have tire tread marks on his back?
      A: From crawling across the street when the pedestrian sign said "DON'T WALK".


      Q: What does a Flying Spaghetti Monster Owl say?
      A: What, what?


      Q: What do you see when you look directly into a Flying Spaghetti Monster's eyes?
      A: The back of his head.


      Q: What did the Dumb Flying Spaghetti Monster do when he went to a film that had an NC-17 (no under 17's) rating? A: Went home and got 16 friends.


      Q: What do you call a Flying Spaghetti Monster behind a steering wheel?
      A: An air bag.


      Q: How do you tell if a Flying Spaghetti Monster writes Mysteries?
      A: he's got a checkbook.


      Q: How can you tell a FAX has been sent from a Flying Spaghetti Monster?
      A: There's a stamp on it.

      Q: How did the Flying Spaghetti Monster try to kill the bird?
      A: Threw it off a cliff.


      Q: Why can't Flying Spaghetti Monsters put in light bulbs?
      A: Keep breakin em' with hammers.


      Q: What's the difference between Flying Spaghetti Monsters and McDonald's?
      A: A Flying Spaghetti Monster serves more people in a night.


      Q: What happens when a Flying Spaghetti Monster developes Alzheimers?
      A: his IQ goes up.


      Q: Why are there no dumb brunettes?
      A: Peroxide.


      Q: What's the guaranteed method to totally confuse a Flying Spaghetti Monster Man?
      A: Ask him to alphabetise a King-size bag of M&Ms.


      Q: Why did the Flying Spaghetti Monster drive into the ditch?
      A: To turn the blinker off.


      Q: When is it legal to shoot a Flying Spaghetti Monster in the head?
      A: When you have a tire pump to reinflate it.


      Q: What do you call a fly buzzing inside a Flying Spaghetti Monsters head?
      A: A Space Invader.


      Q: What's the difference between a dumb Flying Spaghetti Monster and a supermarket trolley?
      A: The supermarket trolley has a mind of its own.


      Q: How can you tell if a Flying Spaghetti Monster is a good cook?
      A: Manages to get the Pop Tarts out the toaster in one piece.


      Q: What do you call a Flying Spaghetti Monster between two brunettes?
      A: A mental block.
  • nickcozy, on 04/28/2008, -4/+3Is there a hidden message about evolution.
    • mistergoodburge, on 04/28/2008, -13/+4Creation...Not Evolution Am I right you stupid young atheist diggers
      • groverblue, on 04/28/2008, -2/+7wow. i can honest say that after reading your comment i've concluded that you are biggest ***** sucker on digg.
  • sonaboy, on 04/28/2008, -10/+5Michelangelo loved the boys. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
    • mithrasinvictus, on 04/28/2008, -1/+10so why mention it?
    • sonaboy, on 04/28/2008, -0/+6it's just sort of fun that one of the church's most prized possessions was created by a person whose lifestyle they openly condemn.
      • Amadeus2490, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Ian McKellen, Claude Debussy, and many more throughout history all had sex with men. There wasn't really a label of "homosexual," or "bisexual" in the early days; men were simply taught to embrace their masculinity and that it was an insult to men to act effeminate.

        The Vatican destroyed over 95% of Da Vinci's work (including functioning androids and prosthetics that were wired into the nervous system) because he was a "heretic."
        • doctechnical, on 04/28/2008, -1/+3Da Vinici also created the first 200mpg carburetor, but the Pope destroyed the plans because the Masons ordered him to.
          Dugg for the conspiracy angle.
          • Amadeus2490, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2No he didn't, but since you brought up the subject of carburetors, type "Pogue Carburetor" into Google. However, it's on record that his work was destroyed because shortly before his death, he trusted all his research to his lover - a boy he had taken in to mentor. When he died, he simply "donated" it all to the church, where it was destroyed.
        • sonaboy, on 04/28/2008, -2/+3Michelangelo once punched a hole in the side of a cow just so he could see an approaching horse carriage!
  • ejhdigdug, on 04/28/2008, -1/+3This is news? I thought everyone knew about this for the last 500 years.
    • davidg11, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3It's not news. It's BREAKING news according to the submission.
  • bsdboy, on 04/28/2008, -5/+6Sorry, still on ABC strike.
  • Sunsneezer, on 04/28/2008, -1/+6As a freelance graphic designer I can totally relate.
    • LorDSyNDracuL, on 04/28/2008, -0/+0that's awesome, what kind of secret messages do you add to your designs?
  • GumdoMike, on 04/28/2008, -2/+9So Dark the Con of Man
    • ehsteve23, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2A Crafted Moon Honks?
      Honk on a Faced Storm?
    • whatthehell, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1cootys rat semen
    • buhbyebot, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1"It doesn't say that... Madonna of the Rocks"
  • davidg11, on 04/28/2008, -4/+6Lamest front page comments ever.
  • dagnabbit, on 04/28/2008, -1/+12Yes, but where's Waldo?
  • Number23, on 04/28/2008, -0/+6The Vatican Museum has a spectacular collection of Greek and Roman statuary (though the church applied fig leaves to the naughty bits), especially the astounding “Laocoön and His Sons” If you’re in Rome, it’s not to be missed.
  • RubineBoy, on 04/28/2008, -0/+9If Michelangelo would still live he would laugh his ass off.
    Hidden images for God's sake! Who would have tought! I was just painting some good looking stuff of some half naked guys for some wanking and spanking high society butt plugs. But I don't mind, I would do it again.
  • BryanCDowney, on 04/28/2008, -0/+21An article about hidden meaning in artwork and the only picture is zoomed out with no text relating to any hidden meaning. Not even a link to pictures they're talking about. wtf is this ABC ammature hour?
    • wildbillhick, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3no. that was the debate a couple weeks ago.
  • borez, on 04/28/2008, -1/+12As much as Rabbi Benjamin Blech would like to claim that this is a great Jewish work of art. The fact is, it isn't.

    And no, I'm not anti-semitic before you start.
    • doctechnical, on 04/28/2008, -0/+5Will you be anti-semitic after I'm done?
    • lrdntwnd, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2I don't think he's claiming that it's a Jewish work of art... simply that Michelangelo had some bones to pick with the church....
  • DaFunk, on 04/28/2008, -0/+8A tour guide and a Rabbi stared at an incredibly complex piece of art long enough to find "hidden messages" from a closely-related religion? Wow. That's incredible. The Earth is shaking.
    • davidg11, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Sounded like the start of a good joke. "A tour guide, Rabbi and the pope were walking into a bar and....."
      • doctechnical, on 04/28/2008, -0/+4...the Pope and the rabbi got into a discussion over some good beer, about their comparative religions and the burdens and triumphs of being a spiritual leader of men. After a while, the pope leans in close to the rabbi, and say "Rabbi, just between you, me, and the Almighty, have you ever tried pork?" And the rabbi responds "yeah, once I had a BLT, the bacon was very nice". So a little later the rabbi asks "Your holiness, just between you, me and the Almighty, have you ever made love to a woman?" And the Pope looks down and says "Yes, I confess, on a night of terrible loneliness I sought solace in the pleasures of the flesh with a beautiful woman." And the rabbi nods, and says "Beats the hell of out pork, doesn't it?"
        And the tour guide does a spit-take.
  • JerkHimey56, on 04/28/2008, -13/+5This just proves that there is nothing inspirational in christianity. Christianity is a derivative mistake and no inspiration can come through the faith. Judaism is the only real religion. All beauty and inspiration comes from Judiaism. I'm glad to see even the sistine chapel is a mockery of a heretical, fraudulent and blasphemous faith.
    • ImpulseControl, on 04/28/2008, -3/+8Apparently the Sistine Chapel can inspire trolls as well...
  • Kaitsu, on 04/28/2008, -3/+3It's the same people who see hidden messages in pieces of toast.
  • pinguwin, on 04/28/2008, -0/+11There are messages that aren't hidden at all. On the Last Judgement, which is at one end of the chapel, there is a very direct message. The pope's right hand man was always getting on Michelangelo's case about all sort of things. To get back at him, he painted him into the fresco and had a snake biting him in the nuts, plain as day in life size. Look in the lower right of the fresco and you'll see it. It wasn't someone symbolizing him, it *WAS* him and everyone recognized it. The right hand man complained to the pope. He told him to get over it.

    Also, if you look at one of the saints, who was skinned alive, holding his skin. The distorted face on the skin is Michelangelo himself. You don't get a painting of that magnitude without something deeper in it, especially considering the autonomy he had (and he certainly had more than most when dealing with the pope). Whether or not the assertions in the article are correct or not, I don't know but hidden messages themselves? No surprise there at all.
  • VAXcat, on 04/28/2008, -0/+5 that reminds me of an old school pal of mine. He was a very talented artist, who got dragooned into doing a mural for the History department. A teacher made it clear, but not in enough words to take action against, that his grade depended on doing this mural. My pal grudgingly did it. It was a beatiful large treatment of the Battle of Hastings, in all its glory. Only after my pal got his grade and was beyond retribution did he point out the previously unnoticed numerous folks in the large battle scene, wielding things like M-16s, Lugers, field radios and the like...
    • pinguwin, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1VAX, got a link to this? Love to see it.
  • insanebrain, on 04/28/2008, -5/+1There are hidden message . .OMS. . the bible must be true. . . :/
    Here's a hidden message for you . .follow the path of the rising of the sun and place it next to the death and 'resurrection' of you saver jesus. Notice the dates ?? Notice the sun around 22 december. .and 3 days later. . .voila it rises again.
  • borez, on 04/28/2008, -0/+4High res image, so we can all find spaceships and flying pigs:

    http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1452528
  • skyz, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1on god being encapsulated inside a brain (in the fresco) some people interpret that as god being an idea created by man not as religion teaches the brain of man created by god
  • Skipperdo, on 04/28/2008, -0/+5anyone who's taken a basic art history class with a competent professor knows all this stuff.

    also i wonder how many of you know the so called "creation" panel where God reaches out to Adam is NOT creation. Its the Gift of Inellectus or intelligence.
  • elbonito665, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3The Michelangeo Code
  • wildbillhick, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Leo Strauss (God Father of Neo-Conservative Thought) said similar thinks about political philosophy...
  • sremick, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2So is it "frescos" or "frescoes"? Even this article can't decide, and uses both.
  • EjectGoose, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Wait, so there are hidden Jewish images in a work of art that represents the Jewish origins of Christianity? No way!
  • edwartica, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Ahem, intentional fallacy!
  • carterartist, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1If you don't believe in hidden meanings, research the fish symbol of christianity, or even better read about Goya.
    • Amadeus2490, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1The fish symbol isn't hidden. . .it's Pisces.
  • alphaterminus, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2I think that since he has God as essentially a part of the human brain, that Michelangelo is stating God is a creation of the human mind, rather than simply alluding to Kabbalah. That portion of the creation fresco is clearly a cross section of the human brain, showing the organ inferior to it from which Adam Sandler stated happiness does not come from, but rather that as momma said it comes from rays of sunshine.
  • hufflepuff17, on 04/28/2008, -3/+3Why are people looking for secret messages in works of art? Can we just not look at the work of art and take from it what we see, since it is visual art. Why must we try and make up stories that painters had some motive or message that he plants in his art work. Why do we feel the need to believe that what we see isn't what we get? Why do we need secret messages? Are the Jews trying to say that the artist put messages in because he hated the pope? The reason he hated him was because he couldn't pay him for all of the work and he refused to finish until he got the rest of the money. We should just look at the art and see the beautiful imagery and how the message of the bible is portrayed.

    And no, I'm not anti-semitic, I just hate Jews.
    • phenolholic, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1first, you're an idiot. second, these are visual art painted by a person, who depicts his emotions, sentiments, and feelings onto his canvas. most people that look at arent dont look at the "pretty little images," but rather what the artist was feeling and how it's embedded onto his work. thirdly, you're an idiot.
  • MrESaulved, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2The restoration of the chapel artwork has reduced it to a vivid cartoon, devoid of any and all visual subtlety.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Si ...
  • designer, on 04/28/2008, -2/+2Atheists have no need for art.
  • mparker7410, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Boring.
  • protogenxl, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1Alright what did he do with the other 15 chapels?
  • phenolholic, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1anyone else think Eve is brutally muscular?
    • iamdan1, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1Thats Michelangelo for you. All of his women are really just men with sad attempts of boobs thrown on them. He didn't exactly "study" women bodies...
  • rectagon, on 04/29/2008, -1/+1Holy lameness Batman. I am not a fan of the Pope... but, jeesh, this is just another daVinci code crackpot story. C'mon ABC... grow up already.
  • absurdist, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1The only hidden message is "pull my finger."
  • GelfTheElf, on 04/30/2008, -0/+0They are using music from my band for this show!!

    http://www.DjinnNYC.com
  • 3rdmalcolm, on 05/01/2008, -0/+0Rabbi Blech might need to be reminded that the Delphic Sibyl and the Libyan Sibyl as well as the Sibyl of Cumae are not Jewish. Nor would it seem that Adam and Eve were either since they predate Abraham by several impossible lengthy generations. Most everything mentioned can be found in any Art History text or introductory Art History class. Also, putti are more Greco-Roman.
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