Located in an Olivetan monastery built in the early 16th century, the “Leonardo da Vinci” National Science and Technology Museum is Italy’s largest science museum, with an exhibition area of 40,000 square metres.
The collections, which were initially housed in just the historic monastery buildings, and only later in the aeronautical-marine and railway halls, present the historical development of science and technology, and explore the complex relationship between man and machine, starting from Leonardo da Vinci.
The models in exhibition in the Leonardo’s Gallery were created to put the genius of Leonardo on display in order to celebrate the five hundredth birthday of this Renaissance artist and scientist of a thousand interests.
The models have been constructed following Leonardo’s drawings. These drawings are projects for machines but also outlines of already existing works, proposals for upgrading or studies of nature.
The legendary layout of the Galleria Leonardo, where the display of the models is enriched by a series of drawings on Leonardo’s various fields of interest, is flanked by a workshop where visitors can use some interactive models to understand how they work and to experiment with the artistic techniques used in the Renaissance.
Over the years, 13 interactive areas have been developed alongside the permanent collections, enabling visitors to gain first-hand experience of science and technology.
The museum contains a fragment of moon rock collected in the Taurus Littrow Valley on the last Apollo mission – donated to the Italian government by President Nixon. It is only exposed to the public for special events or on special occasions.
The Light Around Project, founded in 2011 as part of the second edition of LED (Light Festival) involved, along with other monuments in the city, the National Museum of Science and Technology.