Where Renaissance engineering comes to life through hands on exploration
Discover the Machines of Leonardo Da Vinci
Step inside a workshop where Leonardo’s ideas are transformed into real, working machines. Every model in our collection has been hand-crafted by the renowned Artisans of Florence, using period techniques and materials to bring da Vinci’s original sketches to life.
These exhibits aren’t digital illusions or fictional recreations—they’re physical, mechanical, beautifully engineered machines you can examine up close, and in many cases, operate yourself. Each one reveals the mind of a thinker who blended art, science, design, and imagination long before the word “STEM” existed.
Exclusive Partnership
Built by the Artisans of Florence
Our entire exhibit collection is made possible through an exclusive partnership with the Artisans of Florence — the world’s leading creators of museum-quality Leonardo da Vinci reconstructions.
Their team of historians, engineers, and craftsmen has spent decades translating da Vinci’s notebooks into functional machines that honor original scale, mechanics, and materials. Their work is found in major museums across Europe — and in North America, it’s found only here.
A RARE COLLECTION
“This exhibition is the only one of its kind in North America—featuring functioning machines built directly from Leonardo’s original diagrams.”
Every model in our gallery represents hundreds of hours of research, design, and hand-assembly. Rather than speculative replicas, these machines are built from precise geometric studies and codex notes, allowing visitors to experience Leonardo’s ideas in motion just as he intended.
– The Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America
Flight &Imagination
Early concepts that predicted modern aviation principles
Mechanisms you can examine up close
In this section of the museum, visitors can explore reconstructions of Leonardo’s gliders, air screws, wing mechanisms, and lift experiments. Each model reveals the trial-and-error thinking behind his attempts to solve one of history’s oldest dreams: human flight. These are tactile machines built by the Artisans of Florence, using materials Leonardo himself would have recognized, such as wood, rope, canvas, and iron.
Machines & Robotics
Gears, cams, cranks, pulleys, and motion studies
Hands-on displays that show how movement works
This gallery features working reconstructions of Leonardo’s mechanical systems, each made by the Artisans of Florence using period tools and historically accurate joinery. Visitors can see how gears interlock, how cams translate motion, and how simple mechanics can create elaborate sequences of movement.
Igniting curiosity, encouraging exploration, and inspiring creativity.
Water & Power
Motion, flow, and the force of nature
Early concepts of irrigation and industrial water systems
Water fascinated Leonardo. He studied rivers, currents, pressure, and flow patterns with the same intensity he applied to anatomy and mechanics. His notebooks contain waterwheels, pumps, dredges, turbines, and devices designed to harness the natural power of movement.
In this exhibit area, visitors can interact with machines that demonstrate hydraulic principles Leonardo documented over 500 years ago. Many of these mechanisms — including centrifugal pumps, Archimedean-style devices, and geared waterwheels — laid the groundwork for later industrial engineering.
The Human Body as Machine
Muscle motion, balance, and biomechanics
To Leonardo, the human body was a masterpiece of mechanics. He dissected muscles, mapped tendons, measured bone lengths, and compared biological structures to gears, levers, and pulleys. His anatomical drawings were engineering studies of how the body generates power, balance, and motion.
In this gallery, visitors can explore models inspired by Leonardo’s anatomical observations, including muscle-motion demonstrations, joint mechanisms, and structural studies that reveal the body’s natural engineering. These exhibits offer a rare look at how Leonardo blended artistic sensitivity with mechanical analysis, treating the body as both a living system and an intricate machine.
