Cantiere Leonardo:
a century of history

A wide-reaching cultural workshop dedicated to the genius of science and technology, who pursued his ambition of putting together a vast encyclopaedia of universal knowledge.

The history of the Leonardo Workshop began a long time ago. On 15th February 1953, to mark the fifth centenary of Leonardo’s birth, the National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci" in Milan was officially inaugurated with a major exhibition dedicated to the great man.
Several models were built by a prestigious committee of academics.

However, Leonardo’s legacy, which was gathered and passed on by the founders of the Museum, had already begun to attract interest in the late 19th century. This was when Ulrico Hoepli published a facsimile of the Codex Atlanticus, making Leonardo’s drawings accessible to a large number of scholars.

Up until then, the man had only been considered as a great artist. Now, he gained international fame as a scientist and universal genius too.

In 1995 the museum added to the historic models, built in the Fifties, by installing the first interactive models in the centre of the Leonardo Gallery.
After just three years the Leonardo laboratory opened: a special interactive area where schools can find out about who Leonardo was by using special reconstructions of his machines.

Studying, interpreting and disseminating the work of this great artist and scientist is a true adventure, which continues even today.
The Cantiere Leonardo also embodies this aspiration and this duty: to tell the story of a man whose profound ability to observe nature and people allowed him to pursue his ambition of putting together a vast encyclopaedia of universal knowledge, thereby creating a set of visual and conceptual representations which was the first of its kind.

1894-1904

Ulrico Hoepli published the facsimile of the Codex Atlanticus, edited by Giovanni Piumati. Leonardo’s drawings thus became accessible to a large number of scholars.

1906

Luca Beltrami decided to add a model of Leonardo’s flying machine to the International Exhibition in Parco Sempione.

1929

Raffaele Giacomelli and Giuseppe Schneider submitted a group of aeronautical models to the National Exhibition on the History of Science in Florence. In the same year the models went on display at the Science Museum in London and later at the Aeronautics Exhibition in Milan in 1934.

1939

Leonardo the artist, inventor and technologist was celebrated as the representative of Italian genius in a large exhibition at the Palazzo dell'Arte (now the Triennale). Despite the repressive political climate, the event was a major step in conveying who Leonardo was to the general public, and was a great success.
200 models were built by a prestigious committee of scholars.

1942

The models were destroyed by a shipwreck when the exhibition was being transferred to Tokyo.

1952-53

The fifth centenary of Leonardo’s birth was celebrated. A National Committee was appointed to organise the celebrations. In Milan, the National Museum of Science and Technology opened with a large exhibition on Leonardo. Many of the models from the 1939 were rebuilt. A group of scholars worked on interpreting and designing the models. These included Ermenegildo Menighetti of the Civil Engineers for fortifications, Zamattio and De Rizzardi for the hydraulic models, Tursini from the Italian Navy for the naval models, Vittorio Somenzi and Alberto Mario Soldatini for the flying models; Soldatini was also curator of the exhibition design.

1953

In order to illustrate the dialogue between art, science and technology, the Museum displayed a group of important 16th century frescoes held by the Artistic Heritage Office at Brera.

1978

A large fresco showing the Last Supper went on display at the Museum. It was painted in 1626 by Giovan Mauro della Rovere, known as “il Fiammenghino”. It belongs to the Province of Milan and came from the Disciplini monastery. It is a homage to Leonardo’s masterpiece and to the art of Lombardy in general.

1995

The first interactive models were built and arranged in the centre of the Leonardo Gallery at the heart of the Museum. The Museum continued to take part in a large number of exhibitions, loaning out some historic models which were no longer on display.

1998

The first Leonardo laboratory opened: an interactive area in which school groups can learn about who Leonardo was, by using some specially reconstructed machines designed by him. Over the course of eight years the laboratory was visited by around 3000 classes and more than 80,000 students.

2003

To mark the Museum’s fiftieth anniversary, a working model of Leonardo’s automatic weaving loom was presented to the public. It was built following two years of studies.