The exhibition
Leonardo da Vinci in Venzia
“Wisdom is the daughter of experience …”
… used to think Leonardo da Vinci. The experience was,, in fact, the dominant motif of his thoughts, making him the first true Renaissance Man and capable of marrying, in a wonderful way, the Arts and the Scientific fields. His exceptional thirst for knowledge and his boundless curiosity for every aspect of reality led him to study, investigate, and experiment practically every sector of human knowledge, leaving important and unrepeatable contributions that often foreshadowed many inventions and discoveries that were recognized much later in history.
Thus Leonardo da Vinci continues to exert enormous fascination in the Third Millennium and particularly for Paolo Tarchiani, owner of the Matart company, who, in collaboration with Rita Nelli, has been studying the mechanics of various antique drawings by the Master of the Renaissance himself, for many years.
During the laborious and incessant research there was an aspiration and a goal: to tell the story of a man who, thanks to his ambition and profound ability to observe nature, he assembled a great encyclopedia of universal knowledge, giving importance to his graphics and conceptual representations that were unprecedented during his lifetime. For this reason alone, in the last four years, some exhibitions have been born, each of which consists of about forty physical models dedicated to the themes: flight, war, civil engineering, hydraulics and mechanics, exhibitions that have made appearances in the most important museums in the world including: the Art Center of Vienna, the Art Center in Berlin, the Memorial War Museum in Auckland, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the Memorial War Museum of Korea in Seoul.
The construction of the machines is entirely done by hand, with particular attention to the finishings and use of the materials that were from that era ie: wood, cotton, brass, iron and rope. Only the technical drawings are developed by a computer to calculate the exact proportions of the models and their mechanisms to precision. The handmade machines are interactive and can be used by the public, allowing one to interact with the multifaceted and pragmatic works of a man, shattering the myth that genius is far from our grasp, and allowing us to experience this through the practical and intelligent work of Leonardo’s inventions in the present .
The Church of St. Barnaba
“The church of St. Barnabas was built in 809 by the Adorni family (or Adami)”
The church is located in Venice, in the district of Dorsoduro, not far from Ca’ Rezzonico and the Ponte dei Pugni (Punching Bridge) . It was restored towards the middle of the 18th century, it has an Istrian stone (Limestone that resembles marble and is the building blocks of of the Architecture in Venice) façade overlooking the San Barnaba square.. On the left is the Sotoportego (covered walk way) del Casin dei Nobili, once the site of the noblemen's casino, the gambling and entertainment house that stood here in the 18th century.
The Church of St. Barnaba was built in 809 by the Adorni family (or Adami), but was later destroyed by the fire of 1105.
The church was rebuilt in 1350 thanks to the alms (or church donations) of the faithful , was renovated in 1776 based on a design by the architect Lorenzo Boschetti. The facade, following the classical architecture tradition is crowned by a tympanum (or triangular field), following the style of the I Gesuati church also found in Venice. The interior, with a single nave, resembles Massari's architecture, a famous Venetian architect born in 1687.
In the adventurous film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the church was used to resemble an imaginary library. The Campo (square) San Barnaba located in the front of the church was used to shoot the scene during the film where the protagonist, after having penetrated into the (non-existent) underground tunnel, comes out of a manhole in the center of the Campo itself.
