Michelangelo slept here

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, researchers recently came across an entry for a key to a chest “in the room in St. Peter’s where Master Michelangelo retires.”

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 at age 71 in 1546, a job he held until his death in 1564.

The ink-scripted entry for the key was contained in a parchment-covered volume listing the expenditures of the Fabbrica for the years 1556 to 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.