Florence chapel's 'secret room' painted by Michelangelo

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 central Italy. Photo: AP

Michelangelo Buonarroti, or Michelangelo, is one of history's most admired and mysterious artists. Some of his secrets will soon be revealed, when a room where he resided for two months is opened to the public for the first time in centuries.

The room in question is located beneath the Medici Chapels of Florence's Basilica of San Lorenzo. The Renaissance master spent two months hiding there in 1530, in order to escape a death sentence ordered by Pope Clement VII.