Da Vinci’s 500-year-old design featured a pig-leather suit and surface-connected breathing apparatus employing cane tubes connected by leather.
The tubes ran from a surface bell, which held them clear of the water surface, to the face mask, into which they were sealed. Steel rings were inserted to stop the breathing tubes collapsing under water pressure.
Also displayed are models of Da Vinci’s designs for diving fins and a lifebuoy.
The diving exhibit sits amidst a display of some 200 items, illustrating Da Vinci’s brilliant, broad-ranging career as an inventor, painter and sculptor. Amongst many other things, he foresaw the car and the plane.
Within the “comprehensive and inspiring exhibition about the man who is arguably the greatest genius the world has ever seen” are 3-D animations of the most famous paintings and sculptures.
Included is the UK premiere of The Secrets of the Mona Lisa. The walk-around replica shows the reverse of the frame, and the colours in which the painting would originally have been seen.
Da Vinci – The Genius runs at the Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) on Liverpool Road, Castlefield in Manchester until 13 June next year.
Entry costs £7.50 for adults, £5 for concessions and £20 for a family ticket covering two adults and two children.
Information and tickets (online or by phone) - www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/da-vinci---the-genius
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