The bicycle and the self-moving carriage

On display in this room are the self-moving carriage and the bicycle. These models of inventions by Leonardo have been subject to erroneous interpretations in the past. The idea of Leonardo as a genius forerunner of the times, in fact, took shape in the 1930s, when Italy was attempting to affirm itself in the fields of science and technology, which led to considering his manuscripts as an inexhaustible source of technological anticipations.

The self-propelled wagon, known for many years as Leonardo’s automobile, was in reality designed as a mechanical stage prop for the theater. The attribution to Leonardo of the invention of the bicycle is dubious, as in all probability it was invented only in 1818 by the German Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn.