The collection of "obscene objects" in the Secret Cabinet aroused the ire of moralists and the curiosity of travellers and scholars from the 1700s onwards.
French edition.
In 1846 it could only be visited with a permit, issued exclusively “at the request of diplomats and other worthies”. In 1851 access was denied by the drastic measure of walling up the entrance. Since that time the fortunes of the collection have fluctuated, until its recent reopening: 250 items – sculptures, frescos, bronze statuettes, oil lamps and objects in everyday use – record Roman habits in the sphere of Eros and the evolution of taste and pruderie in the last three centuries.