An international exhibition attracted more than 9500 people – including first-time visitors - to Morwell’s Latrobe Regional Gallery in just two months.
The Da Vinci Machines exhibition, held from 26 February to 25 April 2021, showed more than 60 machines based on original drawings of iconic inventions by one of the world’s greatest minds, Leonardo Da Vinci.
The exhibition boosted the City’s economy and cultural scene, with many visitors shopping or dining in Morwell on the day of their visit, with a vast majority commenting they were more likely to return to the gallery after visiting the exhibition.
The exhibition was popular with locals too, with the majority of visitors coming from Latrobe City and broader Gippsland.
The exhibition was enjoyed by many school children, with 1836 attending and enjoying free bus travel, funded by a grant from the Department of Transport. Fifty tours were conducted and 2151 people attended public programs and workshops. In one week alone, 1513 people visited the show.
“Da Vinci is one of the most recognised inventors in history and that’s why this exhibition had such broad appeal, not only to Latrobe City residents but to visitors from afar,” Latrobe City Council Mayor, Cr Sharon Gibson said.
“This exhibition drew people to the gallery who would not normally attend. Our data shows that generally more females than males attend, but this exhibition also drew significant interest from males who were drawn to Da Vinci’s mechanical ingenuity and engineering feats.”
Visitors saw replicas of iconic Da Vinci paintings, including the famous Mona Lisa, and enjoyed workshops, inventing sessions for children, life drawing, a family open day and late-night trading.
“The exhibition explored Da Vinci’s studies in nature, anatomy, mechanics, flight and robotics, and showed that his work is still of interest today, just as it was 500 years ago when he first thought of his amazing ideas. To think that somebody from the 1600s influences what we ride (bike) and wear (wet suit) today is truly inspirational,” Cr Gibson said.