Museum Monday: Special Exhibit in Pittsburgh
What do you think of when you hear the name Leonardo da Vinci? The enduring mysterious smile of his Mona Lisa? His far-before-their-time flying designs? His use of mirror writing to code his notes?
His designation as a Renaissance man--one with skills across many subject areas--lays the cornerstone of a traveling exhibit currently on display at the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh. Thanks to the preservation of his codices (housed throughout Europe), over 60 of his inventions have been built either full-size or in model form for visitors to peruse and for some, touch with their own hands.
The exhibit takes guests through his works by themes and so after a very brief introduction to his life, starts with a look at his inventions related to weather and flying. Here, I learned that while da Vinci was most definitely an inventor, he was a man who looked at what was already in existence and worked to improve upon it especially in a way that would decrease the amount of effort needed by man. The end of this "room" also took a look at pulleys and had the first of the hands-on pieces where you could pull on various pulleys to see what combination of ropes resulted in the least amount of work to raise a cloth bag.
Rounding the corner, I smiled as a 29x14.5 ft recreation of the Last Supper dominated the wall to our right. Several smaller art pieces by da Vinci including his famous Mona Lisa filled the wall space while the floor space housed four centers with different hands-on activities including making your own paper helicopter and taking a try at mirror writing.
From here we explored his work related to music--he played but never wrote sheet music because he didn't believe music should be trapped on a page--, optics, and water. I was amused by the little character in the life preserver and amazed by the diving suit.
The final room on the first floor delved into his contributions to the military. While the fan cannon proved to be better on paper than in real life, he also created a prototype of what we now know as the armored tank.
Upstairs took a look at his role as a civil engineer. I loved the replica of an ideal city (even if I didn't agree with how he set things up). I also found his rudimentary odometer intriguing. This floor also housed an art exhibit inspired by da Vinci by a local artist. Each month the display will feature a different artist. Currently, Dane Horvath is the highlighted artist with her work titled Illumination.
No surprise, the exhibit ends in a small gift shop. Overall, I enjoyed this look at da Vinci although I definitely recommend combining the visit with one into the larger museum as well. Otherwise, unless you are really into da Vinci, I'm not sure the $19.95 price tag is worth it. There is a lot of reading involved so I do not recommend a visit for early elementary children. Mid and late elementary children may enjoy it if they are interested in wooden models of inventions but will move through it much faster than adults.
The exhibit will be at the Carnegie Science museum through early September and is open when the museum is open. (Previous cities that have housed this display include Boston, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Portland, and Washington DC within the US and Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, and Vancouver outside our borders.)
His designation as a Renaissance man--one with skills across many subject areas--lays the cornerstone of a traveling exhibit currently on display at the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh. Thanks to the preservation of his codices (housed throughout Europe), over 60 of his inventions have been built either full-size or in model form for visitors to peruse and for some, touch with their own hands.
The exhibit takes guests through his works by themes and so after a very brief introduction to his life, starts with a look at his inventions related to weather and flying. Here, I learned that while da Vinci was most definitely an inventor, he was a man who looked at what was already in existence and worked to improve upon it especially in a way that would decrease the amount of effort needed by man. The end of this "room" also took a look at pulleys and had the first of the hands-on pieces where you could pull on various pulleys to see what combination of ropes resulted in the least amount of work to raise a cloth bag.
Rounding the corner, I smiled as a 29x14.5 ft recreation of the Last Supper dominated the wall to our right. Several smaller art pieces by da Vinci including his famous Mona Lisa filled the wall space while the floor space housed four centers with different hands-on activities including making your own paper helicopter and taking a try at mirror writing.
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| This was not my first attempt at my name... |
The final room on the first floor delved into his contributions to the military. While the fan cannon proved to be better on paper than in real life, he also created a prototype of what we now know as the armored tank.
Upstairs took a look at his role as a civil engineer. I loved the replica of an ideal city (even if I didn't agree with how he set things up). I also found his rudimentary odometer intriguing. This floor also housed an art exhibit inspired by da Vinci by a local artist. Each month the display will feature a different artist. Currently, Dane Horvath is the highlighted artist with her work titled Illumination.
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| Only one of several pieces |
The exhibit will be at the Carnegie Science museum through early September and is open when the museum is open. (Previous cities that have housed this display include Boston, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Portland, and Washington DC within the US and Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, and Vancouver outside our borders.)
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