Leonardo da Vinci Focus of Exhibit
Belgian Basilica to Host Exhibition About Italian Master's Genius
Aug 1, 2007
From Aug. 18 through March 15, 2008, the Basilica of Koekelberg in Brussels, Belgium will feature an exhibition focusing on the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, including his philosophies, art and inventions. Leonardo da Vinci - The European Genius is planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.
Original documents, his notebooks, scale models and several of the Italian master’s inventions will be on display. According to the official Web site about the exhibit, it will cover 3,000 square meters and is to be structured around the following themes: da Vinci’s life, paintings, writings, machines and “Europe’s performances as the proud successor of the great master.”
According to the Web site Europe.eu, a painting only recently attributed to da Vinci will be revealed at the exhibition. Additionally, another rendition of The Last Supper will be on exhibit for the first time. “This particular work is contemporaneous with Leonardo's original and has therefore given rise to claims that it could be the work of da Vinci himself,” the site claims.
An Italian polymath, da Vinci may be best known as a painter, but he was also a mathematician, inventor, architect, musician, writer, scientists, engineer, anatomist and sculptor. His Mona Lisa and The Last Supper earned him a reputation as one of the greatest painters ever, but more importantly, many consider him the most diversely talented person of all time. His curiosity and inventiveness made him the archetypical Renaissance man. He lived from April 15, 1452 until May 2, 1519.
“Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge ... Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed , yet we still view Leonardo with awe.” - Liana Bortolon, 1967
The Basilica of Koekelberg, also known as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, is an Art Deco church. It is also the fifth largest church on the globe. In 1905, King Leopold II laid the first stone for Koekelberg, which was built to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Belgium’s independence.
The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community. It was signed by West Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands on March 25, 1957. In 1992 at the Maastricht treaty, the word “economic” was removed from its name, making it simply the European Community. It was one of the first three pillars of the European Union.
More than 1,000,000 visitors are expected to check out the exhibit. For more information about Leonardo da Vinci - The European Genius, visit the official Web site.
