In 2019 the world commemorates the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci—the Renaissance man par excellence. The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) and the Italian Embassy in Berlin invite you to a one-day celebration on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in which world leading experts will present the different facets of Leonardo’s insatiable curiosity, spanning from technology to science and to art.

The MPIWG—itself celebrating the 25th anniversary since its foundation in 1994 as a center for the history of Renaissance—will open its doors at 14:00. In the evening the Italian Embassy will host the second part of the celebration, followed by a dinner reception.

The event, one of the more than 150 events planned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is part of the Italian calendar of celebrations, mainly centered in Florence and Milan, where Leonardo spent the greatest part of his life. Moreover, it constitutes the launch of the exhibition “Leonardo’s Intellectual Cosmos—His Reconstructed Library” that the MPIWG is organizing in Berlin in 2020, together with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Museo Galileo in Florence.

The Leonardo da Vinci symposium will take place in English.

Contact and Registration

The Leonardo da Vinci event is open to the public. Please register on Eventbrite by March 29, 2019. Feel free to contact Mona Friedrich if you have questions or require further information about the event.