Museum of Science and Industry

An early concept of the world’s first bicycle, thought to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci, has been brought to life and was on display in Manchester city centre as part of the Da Vinci – The Genius exhibition at MOSI.

The wooden bicycle was hand-crafted in Italy using an original design from Da Vinci’s records, hundreds of years before the first bicycle was invented in around 1869.

MOSI director Tony Hill said: “Da Vinci’s early bicycle is a great example of how he had developed the ideas for so many inventions hundreds of years ahead of their creation. Most of his works were never made but the Da Vinci – The Genius exhibition allows visitors the chance to see the actual machines described in his sketches and notes, while Pascal Cotte’s fascinating photographs, which show the true colours of the Mona Lisa, are revealed for the first time in Britain in the Secrets of Mona Lisa.”

The bicycle is one of 65 machines in the exhibition which have been created from Da Vinci’s designs and notes and demonstrate the full range of his talents. Italian artisans worked with Da Vinci’s drawings, as well as his unusual shorthand (written from right to left) and Florentine dialect, to bring his work to life for the first time in the techniques and materials of 15th century Italy.  The exhibition includes hand-crafted large-scale objects like Da Vinci’s glider and parachute, the precursor to the modern helicopter, the forerunner to the modern military tank, as well as an automobile, submarine, ball bearing and gear systems. There is also a dedicated section of Pascal Cotte’s hi-resolution photographs, shown for the first time in Britain, which reveal the original colours and features of the Mona Lisa in large-scale prints.

Da Vinci was a prolific writer as well as an artist and designer on subjects as diverse as geometry, engineering, fauna and flora, mathematics, physics and philosophy. His ideas were documented in around 24,000 pages of codices, of which only around 6000 remain today, and these notes were used to recreate the objects and images in the exhibition. He drew incredibly detailed anatomical sketches, and engineered extremely innovative designs for buildings and mechanical devices, most of which were never actually built while Da Vinci was alive.

Da Vinci – The Genius runs until 13 June 2010 at MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry), Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester.  Ticket prices are £7.50 for adults, £5 for concessions or £20 for a family ticket (2 adults, 2 children).  Tickets are available at the MOSI Box Office or www.ticketmaster.co.uk, call 0844 847 2261 (24 hours). Group bookings: 0844 847 2354. Tickets are non-refundable. For more information look up www.mosi.org.uk or www.davincithegenius.com

For media information or images please call Sarah Roe on 0161 606 0176 m: 07847 372647.

Notes to editors

About Grande Exhibitions: Creators and promoters of the Exhibition who have researched, sourced and interpreted much of what is contained in the exhibition.  Based in Rome Italy and Melbourne Australia, Grande Exhibitions is dedicated to delivering quality blockbuster exhibitions of mass appeal that entertain and educate

About The Anthropos Foundation: From Il Genio de Leonardo Da Vinci Museo in Rome, talented and gifted Artisans have made the machines inventions and many items that you see on display at the exhibitions.  They have spent more than 10 years bringing to life over 120 of Leonardo’s concepts and designs and use in the main techniques and materials available in 15^th Century Italy

The Radisson Edwardian, Manchester is the official sponsor of the exhibition

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