[1]One of history’s greatest inventors and artists is featured in a new exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre [1]. Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop: The Exhibition, presented by Barilla Canada Inc., features unique models of Leonardo’s inventions, incredible technology that allows visitors to interact with his notebooks (codices) and digital versions of iconic pieces such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Making its Canadian premiere today, the exhibition runs until March 18, 2012.
“The Ontario Science Centre is delighted to offer this remarkable exhibition. During his lifetime Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor, painter, scientist, engineer, musician, architect, and more. Visitors come to the Centre to be engaged with science and inspired by innovation,” said Ontario Science Centre CEO Lesley Lewis. “Who better as the source of such inspiration than Leonardo da Vinci? Through working prototypes and digital technology, his sketches and ideas are brought to life in the exhibition allowing visitors a glimpse of his inventive spirit.”
Core Exhibit Facts
[2]
- Direct from Milan, Italy, this highly anticipated exhibition recreates dozens of Leonardo’s inventions, visions and concepts, including his flying machines, robots, weapons of war and mechanical devices that foreshadowed modern technology.
- The exhibition includes the world’s first digital reproduction of the restored Last Supper, as well as a digital version of the Mona Lisa, which allows visitors to examine each brush stroke.
- Touch-screen technology will allow Science Centre visitors to actually interact and flip through 600 “pages” and secrets of Manuscript B, the Codex on Flight and the Codex Atlanticus. Visitors can also virtually operate machines as Leonardo had envisioned – such as firing the cannons of his Multi-cannon Gunship designed in 1482.
- Highlights of the unparalleled new exhibition include the Great Kite, considered his “definitive” flying machine, the world’s first working prototypes of his Self-Propelling Cart and his Harpsichord-Viola, and the first physical models of his Mechanical Lion and Robot-Soldier.
- All models were constructed from Leonardo’s surviving codices, which contain thousands of pages of notes, drawings and designs. They were built using materials and techniques that would have existed in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The exhibition opened on October 13th and will run until March 18, 2012. Tickets (including Science Centre admission) are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, students and youth, $17 for children. Member prices are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, students, youth and children.
The Science Centre is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends. Tickets can be purchased online [1], at the box office, or by calling 416-696-1000.