Secret Museum of erotic art in Naples

• The Secret Museum of erotic art in Naples

Nowadays, it is well known that the Romans differed very liberal views on sexuality. However, when in the middle of the 18th century were found ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried under a layer of volcanic ash of Vesuvius, the public was not quite ready to discover also the juicy details of ancient Roman society - namely, the craze erotica.

Pompeii prospered extensive sex industry with dozens of brothels, the walls of which were covered with erotic frescoes. Artistic image of sex as often encountered on the walls of the bedrooms in the private homes of the rich.

On the neck of the inhabitants of Pompeii were phallic amulets to ward off evil spirits. A house almost every one of them kept a small collection of art sexual themes.

The farm is often used oil lamps and other household items phallic.

And the most controversial finding was the statue of the Greek god Pan, which is a half-human, half-goat, copulating with a goat.

The open demonstration of all these sexually explicit materials caused a lot of embarrassment and unease among the public of the 18th century, thus obscene antiquity hastened rather hide from public view, locked in a secret room.

The Secret Cabinet, or "gabinetto segreto", originally located at the Museum of Herculaneum in Portici. Access to it is carried out exclusively by the express written permission of the King. But as you know, bans only heated interest, so images and copies of frescos fell under the prohibition of the exhibits were made within the cabinet and spread among the French elite.

After transferring from Portici to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, a collection for a short time became available to the public without restrictions. This lasted until until King Francis I in 1819 did not cause a museum visit, accompanied by his wife and daughter. Hurriedly escorted family, angered King immediately ordered to lock the collection in a special room, where only men are "mature and well-established moral principles" will be able to contemplate it. Women and children to enter there strictly forbidden.

For the next 200 years the secret museum remained largely closed, only a few times to open their doors for a short time. Even open to the covered sexual revolution of the '60s, he retained the old login restrictions. It was only in 2000, the collection finally became publicly available for both men and women.