An unsolved pigpen cipher from Venice

An encrypted tablet in Venice poses a mystery. Can a reader tell where exactly this board can be found and how the encryption can be solved?

Deutsche Version

The Cryptologic Travel Guide I developed with Christrian Baumann also features some cryptologic sites in Italy. These include the typewriter museum in Parcines, some cryptographic inscriptions in Pisa, and a restaurant in Rome.

In Venice, on the other hand, I have not been able to locate any museum, inscription, or monument that has anything to do with encryption. However, this may now change, and my readers may be able to help me.

Venetian tablets

I found the cryptological sight in question today on Reddit. There, a user named “AleAKAsine” posted the following photo:

Quelle/Source: Reddit

According to “AleAKAsine”, these panels are on a ceiling in Venice. Unfortunately, one does not learn where in Venice the photo was taken. It is not even clear whether Venice in Italy is really meant, and not a city called Venice in the USA (there are several of them). Can any reader here help? Only when I know where exactly these panels are located can I include them in the Cryptologic Travel Guide.

The Non-Nobis Cryptogram

Only the top panel is interesting for us. On it is a Pigpen-encrypted text. If we interpret the line in the middle as a hyphen, then this ciphertext consists of 12 letters. It is therefore a microcryptogram. I want to call it a “Non Nobis cryptogram” because the term “Non Nobis” can be seen several times on the other panels.

Quelle/Source: Reddit

Normally, Pigpen ciphers are relatively easy to crack. But in this case, since there are only 12 letters available for analysis, things are a bit more complicated.

To learn more about the Non-Nobis cryptogram, I wrote to my friend Paolo Bobavoglia, who lives in Venice. Paolo is not familiar with these panels. However, he told me that the Pigpen cipher has been known in Venice since at least the 1500s. The following variant was published by the cryptologist Agostino Amadi in the 16th century:

Quelle/Source: Schmeh

Quelle/Source: SchmehThis variant has only 18 letters. Applied to the non-Nobis cryptogram, one obtains:

CASM?V-ADESAV

According to Paolo, the table can be extended as follows:

Quelle/Source: Schmeh

Now you get:

CARLVT-ADERAS

Both plaintexts are reminiscent of Latin, but make no discernible sense.

Can a reader solve the encryption? I also gladly accept further information about the Non-Nobis cryptogram.

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