The Vatican Museums and Vatican News launched a new multimedia project entitled “Celata Pulchritudo – The Secrets of the Vatican Museums,” a series of videos to discover the secrets of the Pontifical Collections, reported on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, the Holy See Press Office.
As the Vatican note stated, beginning April 20 it’s possible to see “secrets, little known stories and curiosities hidden behind the universally recognized beauty of the master works of the Vatican Collections,” through “a series of short videos that narrate the art of the Pontifical Collections in a new way.”
“From the sources of inspiration of the great masters, such as Michelangelo and Raphael, to the fascination and mystery of ancient pre-Christian civilizations; from the back room of the Museum, regarded by generations of artists as ‘the school of the world,’ to the patrimony of knowledge, research, conservation and restoration that has come to us through the centuries,” explained the press release.
It will be “a way of giving a new look at the Vatican Museums that, having closed over the last months in compliance with the normative in force on the COVID-19 pandemic, have never halted, responding to their vocation as ‘living places,’” and also as “an opportunity to get to know the different profiles and competencies that every day are at the service of an institution born to reveal beauty to the world, ‘a privileged way to meet with God.’”
“The most well known and photographed works also hide little known details, curiosities and aspects to be discovered. Thanks to the help of those that study them, look after them, restore and conserve them, our intention is to bring the greatest possible number of people closer to these treasures of beauty,” explained Andrea Tornielli, Editorial Director of the Vatican’s media.
Finally, the Holy See alluded to the words that Monsignor Paolo Nicolini, Vice-Director of the Vatican Museums, dedicates to this collaboration. “To the Museums naturally, but above all to the people, men and women that work every day to conserve and value one of the Collections of the most famous master works of the world, to them, the real protagonists of this initiative, goes my sincere gratitude.”
