World culture: “Da Vinci Genius” Exhibition in St. Petersburg as a part of Russia-Italy Year

Mechanisms created in accordance with the drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, and three-dimensional models of his paintings will be displayed at a traveling exhibition "The genius of da Vinci," which opens on October 1 at the St. Petersburg Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps. The exhibition is a part of the "Year of Italy in Russia and Russia in Italy” under the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition will highlight 65 mechanisms devised by the great master and implemented by Italian experts. Most of the exhibited machines are made ​​life-size, and, where possible, using technology and materials available in Italy in 15^th century, including wood, cotton, copper, iron, canvas and ropes.

To compose the exhibition, modern computer technology was also used. Thus, visitors will see a three-dimensional interactive performance of "Last Supper", "Vitruvian Man" and "Horse of Sforza" sculpture.

The exhibition will also display reproductions of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance, including "Mona Lisa", "Madonna in the rock," "Annunciation," "Lady with an Ermine", the anatomical drawings and sketches for the "Battle of Anghiari."

One of the most interesting sections of the exhibition - "The Secrets of Mona Lisa" - presents the work by French engineer Pascal Côté. Interest in this masterpiece led to his invention of advanced 240-megapixel multispectral camera designed to scan the painting and virtually remove one by one the layers of lacquer put over and over for centuries. Owing to this camera, Côté has found out the way the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo looked when it had just been finished by the master.

This and other amazing discoveries by Côté demonstrate multiple enlarged high-resolution photographs, the largest of which - a gigantic image of "Mona Lisa" size of 4.26 meters to 3.05 meters.