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The 'la Caixa' Foundation and the City Council bring a unique exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci to Benidorm

 

• The exhibition takes place in two spaces: one indoors with audiovisual material and another outdoors, where four of his most famous models are reproduced at full scale.
• It is located at the intersection of Europa Avenue and Alcoy Avenue and can be visited from today, Wednesday, until March 25.

The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, together with the Councillor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez; the delegate of the 'la Caixa' Foundation in the Valencian Community, Lourdes Toribio; the Business Area Director of CaixaBank in Benidorm, Carlos Colom; and the exhibition advisor, Érika Goyarrola, have today presented 'Leonardo da Vinci. Observe. Question. Experiment', an exhibition that brings us closer to his figure beyond genius, focusing on his most essential trait: his insatiable curiosity. 

The exhibition is located at the intersection of Europa and Alcoy avenues and can be visited from today, Wednesday, until March 25, completely free of charge, although it is necessary to make a reservation in advance through the website CaixaForum.org or at the exhibition space itself. With the organization of this project, the ”la Caixa” Foundation and Benidorm City Council join in the commemoration of the fifth centenary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), through an installation that takes place in two spaces: one inside, where the visitor can see an audiovisual show that connects Leonardo's thought with our daily lives; and another outside, where there are four large models that faithfully reproduce some of Leonardo's most modern and premonitory ideas, such as the 'Aerial Screw', the 'Vitruvian Man', the 'Flying Machine' and the 'Paddle Boat'.

During the presentation, Mayor Toni Pérez stressed that the approach and content of this exhibition, together with its location “almost on the beachfront”, will encourage “many residents and tourists, and especially educational centres, to visit it”. He also stressed the “value” of this exhibition “at a time when science and research, talent, are taking on a relevance that they never stopped having but that was possibly never as recognised as it is now”. 

The mayor has praised the figure of Leonardo da Vinci, of whom he has assured that “he was misunderstood in his time, because sometimes those who are visionaries, those who express their talent in many ways, have to face that misunderstanding”, something that, in the opinion of the first mayor, “is what has happened for a long time also to Benidorm, that there are those who criticize it without knowing it, but in the end through determination, effort, work, the good ends up prevailing”. 

Toni Pérez has considered it “a real privilege” to be the only city in the province of Alicante and Murcia that will host this exhibition in 2025 and has thanked the 'la Caixa' Foundation “for always counting on Benidorm for this type of activities that generate knowledge and culture, putting people at the centre, just as Leonardo did in his day”. 

For his part, the Councillor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez, thanked the 'la Caixa' Foundation for its “close and fruitful collaboration” with Benidorm City Council, which “results in the exhibition of an informative exhibition on artistic, scientific and social aspects in Benidorm every year”.

The councillor stressed that the exhibition “focuses on one of the most versatile and interesting figures in the history of humanity; a curious, brilliant and clear mind, that of Leonardo da Vinci, whose thought, five centuries later, is still relevant and arouses the interest of the general public and also of experts from very diverse disciplines” and he conveyed that “to delve further into the informative and pedagogical aspect, all educational centres in Benidorm have been offered the possibility of touring the exhibition through guided tours that will be available to the school community and also to other groups” in the city.

Both the representative of the 'la Caixa' Foundation in the Valencian Community, Lourdes Toribio, and the director of the CaixaBank Business Area in Benidorm, Carlos Colom, have also thanked the Benidorm City Council for its collaboration and have highlighted that "bringing culture closer to society is a fundamental axis for equal opportunities", hence the commitment of this organisation to promote all kinds of exhibitions "close to the street and close to the people".  

More information about the exhibition

The 'la Caixa' Foundation works to bring culture and knowledge to audiences of all ages and educational levels. Among its cultural activities, it organises numerous travelling exhibitions with the aim of contributing to raising public awareness through artistic, scientific and social content. In addition, with its Art in the Street programme, the 'la Caixa' Foundation aims to turn public spaces into open-air museums. Now, in collaboration with Benidorm City Council and the Château du Clos Lucé - Parc Leonardo da Vinci, it is presenting a project in the city that goes beyond a simple exhibition. Understood as an experience for visitors, it combines audiovisual spectacle, the display of full-scale models on the street, games and augmented reality, to connect one of the most brilliant minds in the history of humanity with our daily lives.

Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, draughtsman, engineer, architect, urban planner, naturalist, anatomist, musician, philosopher and inventor; a true polymath whose ideas remain, five hundred years later, modern and prescient. He came to knowledge in a different way than his contemporaries, as he did so through a method based on observation, experimentation and analogy that called into question immutable theories and learned ideas. Now, 'Leonardo da Vinci. Observe. Question. Experiment' aims to connect that same working methodology of Da Vinci with our daily lives, through a contemporary language that is close to the youngest audience, with the ultimate goal of stimulating creativity and fostering curiosity.

This Foundation “has worked on the project for two and a half years before its presentation to the public, with a multidisciplinary team made up of experts in Leonardo da Vinci, architects, engineers, scriptwriters, audiovisual producers and specialists in design, multimedia game programming and augmented reality”. All this to offer the viewer a “surprising experience”, in which they will find interactive games to understand Leonardo’s way of thinking, full-scale models of some of his drawings and models, built with current materials; as well as an area of ​​augmented reality through an app that allows you to scan QR codes to see what these same models would look like built with materials from the time and what their movements would have been like as Da Vinci imagined them.  

The exhibition is open from Monday to Friday from 12.30 to 2 pm and from 5 to 9 pm; and Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 11 am to 2 pm and from 5 to 9 pm. Guided tours can also be arranged for school groups and other groups from Monday to Friday from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm and from 3 pm to 5 pm, by appointment by calling 900 801 137. Guided tours are also available for the general public, lasting one hour, both in Spanish – Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 7.15 pm; and Saturdays and public holidays at 12.30 pm – and in Valencian, which will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 7.15 pm and Sundays at 12.30 pm.

Likewise, the times for the general public (30 minutes) in Spanish are from Monday to Friday at 12:45, 17, 19:15 and 20:15 hours; and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays at 11, 12:30, 17, 19:15 and 20:15 hours. Meanwhile, the times for the general public (30 minutes) in Valencian are from Monday to Friday at 13:30, 17:45 and 18:30 hours; and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays at 11:45, 13:30, 17:45 and 18:30 hours. Capacity is limited and tickets can be reserved from the CaixaForum.org website as well as at the exhibition space itself.