People online love to reveal secret rooms. From time to time new story goes viral in which someone discovers secret room With all sorts of creepy consequences. But usually, these are stories about homeowners or renters who discover mysterious places, and while they're a little creepy, they're not all that unusual. What you might find more unusual is the number of well-known locations that also contain secret spots.
10. There is a secret room in the Medici Chapels where Michelangelo once lived.
If you're an art lover, head to Florence, Italy, and you'll be absolutely amazed by all the city has to offer. You might even be drawn to the Medici Chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
Created by the great Michelangelo for the famous Medici family, they would live throughout history as great tourist attractions, even until what happened in 1975. That same year, the museum director discovered a secret room under cabinet. Inside was what is believed to have been a secret room occupied by Michelangelo himself.
The walls were covered with sketches, some depicting famous works by artists, while others were completely unique. None of them were signed, so it's difficult to say with certainty that they were his, but they were all executed in his style and depicted real works by this man. The art world continues to debate this.
It is believed that Michelangelo may have used the room as a shelter During the revolt against the Medici. The room is sometimes open to the public, but it is small and access can be limited.
9. There is a secret room in Lincoln's head on Mount Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore is one of America's most famous landmarks, but it's more than just a tribute to four long-dead presidents. Hidden deep within Abraham Lincoln's mind lies a secret vault of notes.
The original purpose of the room was to warn future generations about the origins of Mount Rushmore and who carved it. And the sculptor Gutzon Borglum He made a good point. Most of us don't know this man's name, just as we don't know who created many other important relics and works of art from our past.
Borglum imagined that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution could be kept in his archive. If you've ever seen the Nic Cage film "« National Treasure 2» , some moments may seem familiar to you, as the plot revolves around this to some extent.
Planned room would be huge . However, the government didn't want Borglum wasting time on hidden rooms when the giant heads weren't even finished, so he never finished it. It wasn't until 1998 that the government finally decorated the room with porcelain plaques explaining the room and Borglum's work.
8. There is a secret apartment in the Eiffel Tower.
You'd think that of all the world's famous landmarks, the Eiffel Tower would be the hardest to hide. After all, it appears to be nothing more than a metal frame, and you can actually see through it.
Despite the tower's nature and its rather skeletal structure, a secret apartment is still hidden within the building. Located just below the spire, Gustave Eiffel designed a 1,076-square-foot space like my own apartment. It has an open balcony, oil paintings and perhaps the best view of the city. There was even a piano, which must have been something of a man-eater to climb 1,000 feet to the top, and a laboratory filled with advanced (for the time) technology.
Eiffel himself was apparently notoriously secretive, and so few people were ever invited to his home even during his lifetime. This despite the fact that many members of the Parisian elite offered him money just to spend the night there.
These days, you can access the apartment and see what it's like if you stop by for a visit. But don't be surprised if it's not as big as you think, as most of the space is taken up by the elevator and other technical components.
7. Some New York public libraries have secret rooms.
In America more 116,000 libraries , which offer free reading opportunities. These are great places not only to find and enjoy books but also to use resources like computers and printers. Most also offer numerous programs, ranging from adult literacy and ESL to career development and educational courses. And in New York City, some libraries even had hidden apartments.
Earlierthe directors lived in the libraries . Libraries, like many other buildings, were heated coal , and someone had to keep the furnace running 24/7. In some cases, this meant entire families secretly lived behind the stacks in fully functional apartments.
The apartments were typically quite large and offered free access to the library outside of opening hours. Some even had access to rooftop gardens. The apartments are no longer inhabited, as live-in caretakers are no longer needed. Their number has also declined due to library closures or renovations, but as of 2017, there were still 13 in the city.
6. Benjamin Franklin's house had a secret room full of bodies.
Benjamin Franklin is known for many things. He was an inventor and gave the world bifocal glasses and lightning-fast rides. He was a politician and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. And he was also a man who lived in a house full of corpses . The latter is a little less known.
Franklin lived in a house in London for about 20 years as an ambassador. It was a four-story townhouse, and as a building of obvious historical significance, people in the modern era sought to preserve it and turn it into a museum. This meant some minor renovations, and in 1998, builders discovered a windowless room in the basement with a hole dug in it. there was something sticking out of it femur .
Authorities excavated the site and found a staggering 1,200 human bones. It was estimated that there were between 10 and 15 different bodies, some of them children.
There's evidence that they date back to the same time as Franklin, but he was up to no good. He had a friend named William Hewson, who was secretly working as an anatomist at the time. Many of the bones were sawn or drilled as part of Hewson's medical research.
Conducting anatomical research was not entirely legal at the time, so Hewson had reason to do it secretly. Since Franklin was both a friend and a scientist, the home was a safe place to work.
5. There are hidden rooms in Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Disney World and Disneyland have their share of secrets hidden from the general public, including numerous hidden rooms found throughout the parks. One of the most notable is secret hotel room in Cinderella Castle. The room was intended for Walt Disney, but he died before its completion, and it remained unused for 40 years until it was renovated in 2006. It is designed to look like a real castle and has a 24-hour reception. concierge . tiled mosaic floor with 24-karat gold tiles.
At Disneyland you can find hidden basketball court on the Matterhorn ride. Disney employees built it as a place to rest during breaks. There's also a secret hotel room called 21 Royal, which was also intended for Walt and his wife, but can now be yours. 15,000 US dollars overnight.
4. In the National Archaeological Museum in Naples there is a room that is actually called the "Secret Cabinet".
We're back in Italy again, where they love a good secret room. This time in Naples, at the National Archaeological Museum, which houses a vast collection of artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum, clearly lustful in nature.
The inhabitants of these ancient cities were no above R-rated art. But as soon as more modern excavations began, the Victorian peoples were too modest for such things. Therefore, all works of art deemed too obscene were ordered locked away. Gabinetto Segreto , or the Secret Cabinet.
The secret cabinet was open to the gentlemen who paid a little more . The exhibition featured various mosaics and sculptures of a sexual nature, some of which would even be considered questionable by today's standards.
3. The Greenbrier Hotel housed a congressional bunker.
If you're not familiar with the Greenbrier Resort, it's located in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia and has existed in one form or another since 1778. In more recent times, it also housed a secret bunker designed to members of Congress in case of emergency.
The Butler, built during the Eisenhower era, seated 535 people and occupied square 112,544 square feet . It was built between 1958 and 1961, buried approximately 720 feet into a hillside. It contained a power plant, three 25,000-gallon water tanks, 18 dormitories accommodating over 1,000 people, and a 25-ton blast door.
The bunker remained operational for 30 years, and during that time, technology was constantly improved to meet the demands of the times. It's now a tourist attraction you can visit if you're in the area.
2. There is a hidden fallout shelter on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the most famous landmarks in all of New York City, so famous that people regularly sold it to tourists, was built back in 1869. That doesn't mean people stopped working on it. However, in fact, during the Cold War, a major and secret renovation was carried out, with a bunker being installed on the bridge that wasrediscovered only in 2006 .
Loaded with supplies dating from 1957 and 1962, it contained 352,000 high-calorie crackers, as well as barrels of water, medicine, bedding, and more. The haul was discovered by New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) workers during an inspection. All shipments were labeled as belonging to the DOT. civil defense , the Cold War-era version of FEMA.
The bunker was located somewhere in Manhattan's anchorage, but its exact location remains undisclosed. As for who built the shelter, that also remains a mystery.
1. The Colossus of Florence has several secret rooms.
We return to Florence to see another artistic marvel in the form of Apennine Colossus . This incredible 35-foot-tall Renaissance sculpture of a man towering over a pond could have been ripped straight out of The Lord of the Rings for the emotions it evokes. But it's more than just a stunning and fantastical work of art. It also hides a secret or two.
Inside the Colossus hidden grottoes and passages , which itself was a gift to the Duke's mistress in the 1500s. One of the rooms even has a fireplace that, when lit, causes the giant's nose to smoke. Apparently, there was also room for an orchestra, and at one point, it had a working hydraulic system that pumped water out of the mouth of the fish the giant held.