There may be arguments to be made, but there is little doubt that Leonardo da Vinci would be at or near the top in the history of the world’s artists and dreamers. If anyone deserves the title of ‘Renaissance Man,’—literally, figuratively or practically—it would be Leonardo.
Beyond his many artistic contributions to the world, paintings like Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and drawings like Vitruvius Man, along with his many sculptures, it is his amazing imagination and prescience that more than 500 years after his death, still keep us in thrall.
But now, instead of just imagining his works, Coloradans may actually see firsthand the fruits of his amazing mind in person. In Pueblo, later this year!
With approval from the Colorado Economic Development Commission, the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America can now begin taking shape in southern Colorado’s largest city.
Pueblo, said Craig Cisney, one of the city’s driving forces behind this planned venture, will join the ranks of similar da Vinci museums in Milan, Italy, Melbourne, Australia, and São Paulo, Brazil. “This will be historic on so many levels,” said Cisney. But while it will certainly boost tourism in Pueblo, the biggest value will come “for the children who will benefit” from it.
The museum’s permanent home will be where the vacant Professional Bull Riders Sports Performance Center sits at 310 Central Main Street, in the shadow of the city’s River Walk.
PBR announced last August that it was relocating to Fort Worth, Texas. While the PBR move was disappointing to Pueblo, things just may have worked out in the end for the city. Cisney said the empty building—gifted by the city—was not just a beautiful facility but one ready set to welcome Leonardo.
A campaign to raise money for the museum, said Cisney, begins “in a couple of weeks.” The goal, he said, is $4 million. The figure represents “two years of operating budget.”
In a telephone interview, Cisney was effusive about the city’s, and particularly Mayor Heather Graham’s, support. “We could not have done this without the mayor,” he said.
In a news release, Graham offered her effusive support for the museum, calling the announcement “an exciting day to celebrate the beginning of opening the first and only Leonardo da Vinci Museum in the United States right in the heart of downtown Pueblo.”
Cisney also credits Joe Arrigo, President of the Southern Colorado Science Center for his extraordinary work in bringing the museum to Pueblo.
When the museum’s doors are unlocked next Fall, visitors will witness first-hand “the Universal genius” of da Vinci. They will, of course, see replicas of his ‘The Last Supper’ and other iconic works. But they will have a chance to peer into an imagination unlike any other.
Cisney hopes visitors may also have an opportunity to meet Walter Isaacson, author of “Leonardo da Vinci.” Cisney said an effort is being made to have Isaacson at the opening.
They will see what a 16th century polymath, a person with remarkable imagination and learning, conjured up in his mind and committed to paper. They will see how Leonardo’s fascination with birds translated into concepts of flight. He studied them throughout his life.
They will be left to wonder how a man who lived more than 500 years ago divided his time between creating timeless art and visualizing things that would only become realities hundreds of years later.
While his concepts of flying machines, submarines and sophisticated weaponry may never have come to fruition, he nonetheless left the blueprints for others to build long after he was gone.
And that, Cisney said, is one of the great debates about Leonardo, that he consistently left his work in concept instead of completion. “We had a big debate about that,” he said. An expert on Leonardo visited Pueblo to discuss the museum and the topic of his procrastination came up. She did not see it as “a shortcoming.”
But the debate about this may never end. In fact, it’s a debate that stirred while he was alive. Many of his clients, Leonard scholars say, were also frustrated about his unreliability. Leonardo, himself, sometimes thought this shortcoming made him a failure. Some have even speculated that this weakness may have been ADHD, a hyperactivity disorder. The debate will only continue.
In addition to the wonders of Leonardo inside the museum, which will also include ‘hands-on’ exhibits, visitors will be about to lunch outside the museum, enjoy the River Walk or take a stroll on the city’s historic Union Avenue.
For information on the planned museum, visit leonardomuseumna.org.
