Bringing da Vinci's ideas to life

Traveling exhibit comes to Henderson with 60 replica inventions, children's area and more

The Italian Renaissance is thriving in Henderson.

The Da Vinci Experience, a special exhibit of more than 60 replicas of scientific devices developed by Leonardo da Vinci, is on display at the Henderson Events Plaza, 200 Water St.

Gabrielle Niccolai and his family have made all the machines at their workshop in Florence, Italy.

"It's a passion of the father," Niccolai said through a translator.

Carlos Niccolai, Gabrielle's father, was a craftsman when he was commissioned in the 1950s to build machines based on da Vinci's then-recently discovered notebooks, called codices. These books with da Vinci's drawings, which had been owned by a family in Spain for nearly 400 years, were written backward in Tuscan.

Today, Carlos, his two sons, his nephew, and family friend Luigi Rizzo build the machines using materials and techniques of the 15th and 16th centuries.

"It's a continuing project because da Vinci left us with 14,000 drawings," Rizzo said. "There's always something new to produce."

The exhibit has samples of the codices, 25 interactive exhibits and 11 full-sized machines. The models are organized in three viewing galleries: transportation, military and mechanical. They include hang gliders; a bicycle; a double-hull boat; an air-screw, which was the precursor to the helicopter; a fly wheel; an early tank; a robot; a chamber of mirrors; and a movable bridge, among others.

A special interactive children's area has been developed for the American market.

Tours by docents take place in the 8,000-square-foot exhibit space and start with a film introducing da Vinci's life.

"It's the highlight of the exhibit, really," Rizzo said.

The Henderson stop is the only one in Nevada and the third city on the U.S. tour of the exhibit.

The tour also has visited cities all over Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

Replicas of da Vinci's paintings have been added to the American tour. The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are among the works hanging in a replica of a Tuscan Palazzo, which actually is a set purchased from Paramount Pictures.

The exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday until March 2.

Tickets are $17 for adults, $12 for seniors 65 and over, $12 for students ages 7 to 17, $12 for military, $55 for a family of five, $11 each for groups of 10 or more, and $9 each for school groups of 10 or more. Children ages 6 and under are free.