Uganda will host the Leonardo da Vinci Opera Omnia from November 19 to January 5, 2020.
This is an event that showcases true-to-size reproductions of Leonardo’s 17 paintings, which are scattered in various locations and museums all around the world.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry and different arts societies and aims to share Italian cultural heritage in different parts of the world annually. The exhibition will take place at the Uganda Museum.
The annual exhibition moves to different parts of the world on a rotational basis to give art lovers who may not get the chance to see the originals a chance to view replicas.
Uganda is the second African country to host the event after Algeria hosted in January.
It is hoped that the exhibition will attract visitors from all over the world as the country seeks to increase its tourist numbers. The exhibition will feature next in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia next year.
“Our objective is to get tourists to stay longer and spend more money in the country as we try to achieve our target of four million visitors by 2020,” said Claire Mugabi marketing Manager of Uganda Tourism Board.
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most influential and revered artists in world history with varied interests ranging from science, music, mathematics and literature to drawing, painting, sculptures and architecture.
Da Vinci made substantial discoveries in the field of anatomy, hydrodynamics, optics and civil engineering despite no formal education.
Among his paintings is the Mona Lisa on display at the Louvre in Paris. It is a half-length portrait painting that has been described as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.”
“The exhibition will be an art exposure and an educational experience, intended to showcase the culture of the renaissance era through visual information, painted by Leonardo in the 16th century,” said Massimiliano Mazzanti Italy’s ambassador in Uganda.
-The East African