Paris (AFP)

The famous mechanical lion designed by Leonardo da Vinci was fully restored and presented Wednesday at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris where he will remain a month in tribute to the grand master of the Renaissance five hundred years after his death.

This automaton, 2 meters high and 3 meters long, made of wood, with a metal mechanism, was presented on a platform. On the commission of Pope Leo X, it had been designed by the Tuscan artist.

Its function was royal: the lion had to solemnly advance a few meters towards Francis I and make fall at his feet a sheaf of lily, his belly opening to release these flowers symbolizing Florence. It would have served a few times.

Thanks to the long work of researchers at the Leonardo 3 Museum in Milan, one of Leonardo's treatises, the recently discovered Codex Madrid I proved to be the box in which the notes of the project were kept.

On a single index at the beginning, the machine was reconstituted, the 3D allowing to visualize it precisely.

But as the scientific director of the Leonardo 3 Museum, Mario Taddei, explained, it was difficult to decipher all these scattered notes and it was necessary to make scholarly assumptions to reconstruct it.

These scrambled manuscripts "have more secrets than the Mona Lisa, and in writing these slips, he reflected for himself," said Taddei.

On some six thousand sheets, Leonard would have imagined the plans of hundreds of machines but only a few had to be built and operate including the mechanical lion.

Thus Vinci is a precursor in mechanics, announcing modern robotics. "Imagine in a room five hundred years ago! This robot was to cause stupor, terror, we had to see a magical intervention," said Taddei.

Also fascinated by physics, anatomy and botany, the genius of the Renaissance "will have invested more in scientific research than in painting", even if it is today especially recognized for the latter, underlined the Italian researcher .

The wooden realization is accompanied by a multimedia presentation that allows you to browse the Codex. The machine will remain on display until October 9 at the Italian Cultural Institute.

Leonardo da Vinci died in Amboise 500 years ago. He will have lived the last three years of his life in France. Among the many exhibitions and events planned, in Italy, in Touraine, a major exhibition will start on October 24 at the Louvre in his memory.

© 2019 AFP