TAMPA — “Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion,” a temporary exhibition that showcases the brilliance of a true Renaissance genius, opened Jan. 17 at MOSI, Tampa’s Museum of Science & Industry. MOSI is at 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa.
“Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion” is a life-size mechanical playground where you’ll marvel at the artist’s flying machines, try out floats designed for walking on water, and climb inside an eight-person military tank — all based on the imaginative sketches found in Leonardo da Vinci’s famed notebooks. Visitors can expect to crank, spin, and fly into the mind of the world’s greatest inventor with this hands-on, full-scale experience that comes from the imagination of one of history’s most celebrated thinkers, Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo da Vinci is celebrated as a painter, sculptor, musician, architect, engineer and anatomist. Most enduring to his legacy are his inventions and designs.
To bring this exhibit to life, skilled craftsmen in Italy hand-built more than 40 machines, using the same techniques and tools that da Vinci himself would have used in the Renaissance, more than 500 years ago. In Tampa for a limited time, “Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion” is included with MOSI admission.
“Leonardo da Vinci was STEAM before STEAM had a name,” said John Graydon Smith, MOSI president and CEO. “He blended science, technology, engineering, art, and math into everything he imagined. This exhibit lets you explore that same mix of creativity and curiosity in action.”
Each creation is a work of art, taken from da Vinci’s four classical elements — Earth, water, air and fire — with each one revealing a different side of his endless curiosity.
This is the largest hands-on display of full-size Leonardo da Vinci machines ever assembled. Lift weights with da Vinci’s cranes or pump water with an Archimedes’ screw to understand the mind of the man who also painted the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
According to Evergreen Exhibitions, the producer and tour operator behind “Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion,” the exhibits include such visionary inventions as the helicopter and glider, the armored tank, the drive transmission, the printing press and the bicycle. Most of the materials used in the construction of these machines were available in Leonardo da Vinci’s era, and are the ones proposed by him in his codices, including wood, rope and glue. The materials were crafted by hand — using tools prescribed by the master himself — and then reinforced for the traveling exhibition.
“Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion” will run through Sunday, May 3.
The Museum of Science and Industry is a hands-on science center dedicated to interactive learning and playful exploration. With engaging permanent and rotating exhibits and out of this world programming, MOSI makes science and technology accessible to all. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.