On May 10, 1508, Michelangelo signed a Vatican contract to create frescoes for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The original plan, calling for 12 large portraits of the Apostles, was rejected by the artist; he replaced it with a much more elaborate scheme, finally comprising approximately 300 figures. In The Sistine Secrets, Rabbi Benjamin Blech addresses the most vexatious question about this much-discussed masterpiece: Why is there not a single Christian image in this enormous artwork? Using recently discovered primary materials, Blech describes Michelangelo's secret involvement in an underground movement of interfaith freethinkers and Kabbalists. A groundbreaking history on the 500th anniversary of the majestic Sistine Chapel.