{{short description|Collection of sexually explicit finds from Pompeii}} {{About|the collection in Naples|the collection in the British Museum|Secretum (British Museum)|the cartoon|Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum{{!}}''Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum''}} [[File:MANNapoli Secret Cabinet entrance Italy.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|Entrance to the ''Gabinetto Segreto'']] The '''Secret Museum''' or '''Secret Cabinet''' ({{langx|it|Gabinetto Segreto}}) in [[Naples]] is the collection of 1st-century Roman [[erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum|erotic art found in Pompeii and Herculaneum]], now held in separate galleries at the [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples|National Archaeological Museum]], the former Museo Borbonico. The term "cabinet" is used in reference to the "[[cabinet of curiosities]]" - i.e. any well-presented collection of objects to admire and study.
==History== Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, the secret room was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s before being finally re-opened in 2000. Since 2005 the collection has been kept in a separate room in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Although the excavation of Pompeii was initially an [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] project, once artifacts were classified through a new method of [[Taxonomy (general)|taxonomy]], those deemed obscene and unsuitable for the general public were termed pornography and in 1821<ref>[http://museoarcheologiconazionale.campaniabeniculturali.it/glossario/ploneglossarydefinition.2008-06-09.8351409625/ Gabinetto Segreto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411143549/http://museoarcheologiconazionale.campaniabeniculturali.it/glossario/ploneglossarydefinition.2008-06-09.8351409625/|date=April 11, 2011}}</ref> they were locked away in a Secret Museum. The doorway was bricked up in 1849.<ref>Laurentino García y García, Luciana Jacobelli, Louis Barré, ''Museo Segreto. With a Facsimile edition of Herculanum et Pompéi. Recueil général des peintures, bronzes, mosaïques... (1877)'' (2001) Pompeii: Marius Edizioni [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2003/2003-07-38.html On-line Bryn Mawr Classical Review]</ref>
At Pompeii, locked metal cabinets were constructed over erotic frescos, which could be shown, for an additional fee, to gentlemen but not to ladies. This [[peep show]] was still in operation at Pompeii in the 1960s.{{sfn|Hare|Famin|2003|loc=Introduction}} The cabinet was only accessible to "people of mature age and respected morals", which in practice meant only educated men.
The museum closed from February 2020 to August 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 August 2021 |title=Naples, after one and a half years the Secret Cabinet of the National Archaeological Museum reopens |url=https://www.finestresullarte.info/en/museums/naples-after-one-and-a-half-years-the-secret-cabinet-of-the-national-archaeological-museum-reopens |access-date=2026-05-10 |website=www.finestresullarte.info |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2021-08-10 |title=Napoli, riapre il Gabinetto segreto del Museo archeologico nazionale |url=https://napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/08/10/news/napoli_riapre_il_gabinetto_segreto_del_museo_archeologico_nazionale-313556854/ |access-date=2026-05-11 |website=la Repubblica |language=it}}</ref>
== Collection == Throughout ancient [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]], erotic [[fresco]]es, depictions of the god [[Priapus]], sexually explicit symbols and [[inscriptions]], and household items such as [[Phallus|phallic]] oil lamps were found. The [[Sexuality in ancient Rome|ancient Roman understanding of sexuality]] viewed explicit material very differently from most present-day cultures.{{efn|For Roman views of sexuality, see Paul Veyne, "Pleasures and excesses" in ''A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium'', Philippe Ariès and Georges Duby, eds. (Harvard University Press) 1987: 183–207.}} Ideas about [[obscene|obscenity]] developed from the 18th century to the present day into a modern concept of [[pornography]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kendrick |first1=Walter |url=https://archive.org/details/secretmuseumporn00kend/page/1/mode/2up |title=The Secret Museum |date=1987 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-20729-7 |edition=First |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |pages=1–9 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
The collection contains approx. 250 items.<ref name=":0" /> The catalogue of the secret museum was also a form of censorship, as engravings and descriptive texts played down the content of the room.
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" widths="200px" heights="150px"> Ermafrodito, affresco Romano di Ercolano (1–50 d.C., Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli) - 02.jpg|Hermaphroditus. Wall painting from Herculaneum. 1 CE – 50 CE Coll. borgia, bronzetto con scena erotica sodomitica, 27715.JPG|Sculpture depicting sex Cerámica Gabinetto segreto Nápoles.JPG|Anal sex between two males. Etruscan amphora. 5th century BCE Napoli, museo archeologico (8105426048).jpg|Marble statue of Satyr and Nymph. From Pollena Trocchia Fragment of wall painting with erotic scene, from Pompeii, Naples National Archaeological Museum (17297820526).jpg|Sexual scene from Pompeii in the Secret Museum Wall painting - love making - Pompeii - Napoli MAN 27697.jpg|Sexual scene from Pompeii in the Secret Museum Erotic scene Pompeii MAN Napoli Inv27696.jpg|Sexual scene from Pompeii in the Secret Museum Pan copulating with goat 1.JPG|Pan copulating with goat, 1st century BCE – 1st century CE </gallery>
==See also== {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * [[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum]] * [[History of erotic depictions]] * [[History of human sexuality]] * [[Homosexuality in ancient Greece]] * [[Homosexuality in ancient Rome]] * [[Sexuality in ancient Rome]] {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |first1=Michael |last1=Grant |first2=Antonia |last2=Mulas |title=Eros in Pompeii: the Erotic Art Collection of the Museum of Naples |location=New York |publisher=Stewart, Tabori and Chang |year=1997}} (translated from the original 1975 Italian edition). * {{cite book |first1=J. B. |last1=Hare |chapter=Introduction |first2=Stanislas Marie César (Colonel) |last2=Famin |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/sex/rmn/index.htm |title=The Royal Museum at Naples, being some account of the erotic paintings, bronzes and statues contained in that famous 'cabinet secret' (translation of "Musée royal de Naples; peintures, bronzes et statues érotiques du cabinet secret, avec leur explication" |orig-year=1836 |year=2003}}
==External links== * {{Commons category inline|Secret Cabinet in the Museo Archeologico (Naples)}} * {{Official website|https://mann-napoli.it/en/gabinetto-segreto-2}} {{Sex museums}} {{Museums of Naples}} {{coord|40|51|13|N|14|15|2|E|type:landmark_region:IT|display=title}} {{authority control}}
[[Category:Collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Naples]] [[Category:Art museums and galleries in Campania]] [[Category:Archaeological museums in Italy]] [[Category:Museums in Naples]] [[Category:Sex museums]] [[Category:Sexuality in Italy]] [[Category:Censorship in Italy]] [[Category:Sexuality in classical antiquity]] [[Category:National Archaeological Museum, Naples]]