DaVinci Exhibit Open for Holiday Season

A new attraction, now open in downtown St. Louis, might be a change of pace for families during the holiday season, and beyond. The attraction promises to explore the mind of the Greatest Genius of All-Time.

The DaVinci Machines Exhibition, on loan from the Museum of Leonardo DaVinci in Florence, Italy, and is one of just three such exhibits traveling the world. Called DaVinci Machines II: The Australian Exhibition, it contains more than 60 hand-crafted inventions built from Leonardo's 500-year-old designs and is the life work of three generations of Florentine artisans. They have painstakingly brought to life the creations and concepts devised by the brilliant inventor, scientist, sculptor and artist, Leonardo DaVinci.

With more than 60 machines on display, many of which are interactive, the collection features replicas of the major and most striking inventions of the original Renaissance Man. Featured machines on display include the DaVinci bicycle, hang glider, and air screw, the precursor to the modern-day helicopter. Also, on display are two of Leonardo’s revolutionary robotic inventions, the life-size robot drummer and for the first time ever, the secrets behind Leonardo's legendary mechanical lion. The uniquely interactive machines are a popular aspect of each exhibition as visitors can touch and handle the models to gain a first-hand appreciation of how they work. Explanatory notes and illustrative panels with Leonardo's drawings from his codices accompany each model.

Highlights of the Exhibition:

Organizers of the exhibition have several life-size versions of DaVinci’s most famous designs on loan from the Museum of Leonardo DaVinci in Florence, displayed for the first time in North America.

• Leonardo’s incredible vision of the “Ideal City” is unveiled in full color graphic panels and stunning animation for the first time.
• DaVinci’s “Last Supper” is displayed in the size and scope of how he intended his masterpiece to be viewed
• There also is a re-creation of the Battle of the Titans. In 1505, DaVinci and Michaelangelo were commissioned to paint opposing frescoes in the Hall of Five Hundred in Florence.  Both paintings were left unfinished and more than 500 years later they have been reproduced  here in the St. Louis exhibit.  
• There also is Leonardo’s version of the great pyramid-building machine revealed for the first time at the DaVinci Machines II in North America.  This actual working model, called the Herodotus Machine was believed to have helped build the great pyramids of Egypt.  
• There also are beautiful reproductions of more than half of Leonardo’s masterpieces in the art gallery

Tickets for the exhibition is $14 for adults, $11 for students and teachers, $9 for children 5 to 10, $11 for seniors and military and free for children younger than 4.

There is a family pack (up to five admissions) for $40.

You can see the DaVinci Exhibition at 800 Market St., Suite 100 (across from City Garden, one block north of Busch Stadium) through May.

It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.