MUSEO NAZIONALE DELLA SCIENZA E DELLA TECNOLOGIA LEONARDO DA VINCI

Description

Essentials about the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in brief

The Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology) is not only worth a visit for science and technology fans. Housed in the premises of a former monastery, it is not only the largest, but also the most important museum for science and technology in Italy, with an area of over 40,000 square meters. As the museum’s epithet suggests, a special exhibition focus is on the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. The museum is in possession of the world’s largest collection of apparatuses and models that have been recreated on the basis of da Vinci’s sketches and plans.

The history of the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci

The Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia is due to the engineer and industrialist Guido Ucelli. On the occasion of the Milan World’s Fair in 1906, Ucelli proposed the creation of a museum of technology. However, it was not until the 1930s and 1940s that a commission and a foundation were set up to realize the plans.

In 1947, after the end of World War II, Ucelli succeeded in obtaining the 16th-century monastery of San Vittore al Corpo, which had been severely devastated by Allied bombs, as a space for the museum. After extensive restoration and remodeling work, the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci opened on February 15, 1953 with a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. In the following decades, the Museum of Technology was expanded several times and new exhibition areas were added.

The exhibition of the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci

The departments of the museum

The aim of the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia is to present scientific knowledge and its practical application. The focus of the exhibition is on the inventions and technological developments of the 19th and 20th centuries (with special emphasis, of course, on Italy’s technological achievements). Covering an area of over 40,000 square meters, the museum is divided into the following seven departments: Art and Science, Communication, Food, Materials Science and Technology, Energy, Transport and the Galleria Leonardo da Vinci.

The Galleria Leonardo da Vinci

The Galleria Leonardo da Vinci is probably the museum’s greatest feature. It has the world’s largest collection of models and apparatuses based on Leonardo’s plans and sketches. From flying machines to mills and swing bridges to war machines, many of da Vinci’s ingenious inventions can be seen in real life. Some of the apparatuses, such as a screw conveyor and bird wings, can also be tried out by visitors.

Museum highlights

Among the highlights of the exhibition are the Enrico Toti submarine, in service with the Italian Navy from 1968 to 1997; the Olivetti P101, the world’s first freely programmable calculator; the prototype of the magnetic detector used by Guglielmo Marconi in 1902 to carry out experiments in communications; a model of the experimental helicopter tested by Enrico Forlanini in 1877; and, last but not least, a replica of an astronomical clock made by Giovanni de Dondi in 1364.