12 Apostles Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci "Last Supper"

For two millennia, Orthodox Christians have been taking communion every Sunday and on Great Days. church holidays. They do this to a prayer composed by John Chrysostom mentioning an event called The Last Supper. With what it was connected - we will understand in this article.

The Last Supper - what is this event?

At this meeting, Jesus last time gathered all his people to celebrate the Old Testament Jewish Passover together. She symbolized the deliverance of the Jewish people from the Egyptian yoke. In addition, another task lay on such an event as the Last Supper - Jesus and Judas understood everything about each other. The first predicted the betrayal of the second, and Judas became the only one who understood the origin of the teacher and to whom the son of God revealed all the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why is the supper called a mystery?

Because Jesus Christ on his last evening established the sacrament of Holy Communion. The Last Supper is an event that is commemorated by Christians in. Then it was customary to bake unleavened bread on that day and to chop the lamb. There was no meat of the latter on the tables of the apostles and the son of God, because he himself went to the slaughter, ascending to the Cross for the sins of all the followers of Adam. Taking a piece of bread and a glass of wine in his hands, he said: "Do this in remembrance of Me." The cup of wine represents the blood of Christ shed for people, and the bread represents his flesh. That is, the Lord performed the Passover Seder.

Where did the Last Supper take place?

To search for a suitable place, Christ sent two disciples to Jerusalem. He predicted to them that on the way they would meet a traveler with a jug of water, who would turn out to be the owner of the desired house. For those who are interested in where the Last Supper was, it is worth answering that after the apostles announced the will of the teacher to the host, he provided them with an upper room where they could prepare everything for Easter.

The Last Supper - a parable

There is a parable about the creation of a canvas of the same name, authored by Leonardo da Vinci. He painted all the heroes of his picture from nature, selecting suitable models. He wrote the image of Christ from a young singing choir, but for the role of Judas for a long time he could not find anyone. And after a long search in the gutter, a young, but prematurely aged man was found with the seal of all the vices on his face.

When he saw himself in the picture, he said that three years ago he had already acted as a model, but then the artist painted Christ from him. The meaning of the parable The Last Supper is to live according to the command of God, remembering the deed of Jesus and hoping for salvation in the kingdom of God. Faith can make us holy, give us eternal life, and unbelief can turn us into a pitiful likeness of a person who is unable to resist sin, the power of the Devil.

The Last Supper in the Bible

At the meeting with the apostles, Jesus established the sacrament of the Eucharist. It consists in the consecration of bread and wine, which are subsequently eaten. For those who ask what the Last Supper means, it is worth saying that at the last meal, the son of God taught his disciples the Most Pure Body and Blood of his, giving himself as a sign of the subsequent resurrection and eternal life. Christ already knows about betrayal and speaks about it directly. At the same time, according to one version, he points to Judas, holding out a piece of bread to him, dipping it in a vessel of wine.

According to another version, at the Last Supper, at the same time as Judas, he pulls his hand to the goblet, which is direct evidence of his betrayal. He is saddened by the upcoming separation from his students and teaches them a lesson in eternal humility and love, washing everyone's feet in turn and wiping them with his own belt. The first to be washed was the Apostle Peter, and the Last Supper became a revelation to him. He says, "Will you wash my feet?" but Jesus replies, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me." The Lord did not disdain the duties of a slave in the name of love and unity.

The Last Supper - Prayer

Not only on Maundy Thursday, but throughout the year before communion at the Liturgy, the priest reads a special prayer, constantly remembering what happened at such an event as the Last Supper, Orthodox Church even restored the rite of washing the feet, carried out by the bishop after the liturgy. And although Maundy Thursday falls on Holy Week, it is considered a holiday, starting to celebrate it on Wednesday evening. At the same time, the canon “The cut is cut” is read, performing the irmos of the 9th song, and the prayer “Your Secret Supper” is sung at the liturgy.

In it, the prayer asks the Lord to accept him and make him a participant in such an event as the Last Supper. He promises not to betray secrets to enemies, not to give such a kiss as Judas gave, and asks to remember him in the Kingdom of God. This is how Jesus Christ died for faith and people, the Last Supper marks this event, and together with the communion of the apostles, the entire Christian people do this, uniting their souls with God and partaking of his Divine love.

For the sake of the opportunity to look at it, millions of tourists are striving to Milan, regardless of the season.

The original fresco is located in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Santa Maria delle Grazie) on the eponymous square in Milan. The church was built during the Renaissance. It was commissioned to architect J. Solari by Dominican monks. The Last Supper fresco was commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Maria Sforzo, at whose court Leonardo da Vinci won fame as a skilled painter. The artist completed the received order in the refectory of the monastery in 1495-1497.

Damage and restorations

During its more than half a thousand years of existence, the fresco was repeatedly damaged. And by the Dominican monks themselves, who cut off the lower part of the image along with the legs of Jesus and the closest apostles. And the troops of Napoleon, who turned the church into a stable and threw stones at the heads of the apostles. And the Allied bombs that exploded on the roof during the Second World War. After the damage, well-intentioned restorers tried to repair the damage, but the result was not very good.

Already at the end of the 20th century, a lengthy restoration removed all previous unsuccessful attempts restored and repaired the damage caused to the fresco. But despite this, today's "Last Supper" is only a shadow of the masterpiece created by the great painter.

Description

Until now, many art historians believe « The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci the greatest work world art. Even in the era of da Vinci, the fresco was considered his best work. Its approximate dimensions are 880 by 460 cm. It was made on dry plaster using a thick layer of egg tempera. Due to the use of such a fragile material, the fresco began to collapse already somewhere in 20 years after its creation.

The painting depicts the moment when Jesus Christ informs his disciples at dinner that one of them, Judas, who is sitting second in right hand from Christ, will betray him. In the picture, Judas is reaching out with his left hand to the same dish as Jesus, and in his right hand he is clutching a bag of silver. To obtain lifelikeness and accuracy, Leonardo for a long time observed the postures and facial expressions of his contemporaries in different situations. Most researchers of the work of Leonardo da Vinci have come to the conclusion that perfect place for contemplation of the picture - this is a distance of 9 meters from it at a height of 3.5 meters from the floor level.

The uniqueness of The Last Supper lies in the amazing diversity and richness of the emotions of the characters depicted. No other painting on the theme of the Last Supper even comes close to the uniqueness of the composition and fine detail of Leonardo's masterpiece. Three or four days could pass, during which the master did not touch the future work of art.

And when he returned, he stood idle for hours before the sketch, examining it and criticizing his work.

Thanks to this, each character is not only a beautiful portrait, but also a clear type. Every detail is thought out and repeatedly weighed.

The most difficult thing for Leonardo when painting a picture was to find models for writing Good, embodied in the image of Christ, and Evil, embodied in the image of Judas. There is even a legend about how the ideal models for these images were found on great picture. One day the painter came to a performance church choir. And there, in the face of one of the young chorus singers, he saw beautiful image Jesus. He invited the boy to his studio and made several sketches. Three years later, the main work on The Last Supper was almost completed, and Leonardo never found suitable model for Judas. And the customer was in a hurry, demanding the speedy completion of the work. And so, having undertaken many days of searching, the artist saw a ragamuffin lying in a gutter. It was a young man, but he was drunk, ragged, and looked very decrepit. Deciding not to waste time sketching, da Vinci asked to bring this man directly to the cathedral. The limp body was dragged to the temple, and the master painted from him sinfulness, looking from his face.

When the work was finished, the tramp came to his senses and cried out in fright when he saw the picture. It turned out that he had already seen her, three years ago. Then he was young and full of dreams, and some artist invited him to pose for the image of Christ. Later everything changed, he lost himself and sank in life.

Maybe this legend tells us that good and evil are two sides of the same coin. And in life it all depends on at what point they meet on our way.

Tickets, opening hours

Church visitors wishing to see the "Last Supper" can only get inside for inspection in groups of up to 25 people. Before entering, everyone, without fail, must undergo a procedure for removing contaminants from clothing using special devices.

But, despite this, the queue of those wishing to see the fresco with their own eyes never dries up. During the high season from April to November, tickets must be booked at least 4 months in advance.

Moreover, the reservation must be paid immediately. That is, you can not pay later ordered in advance. In winter, when the flow of tourists decreases slightly, you can order tickets 1-2 months before visiting.

It is most profitable to buy tickets on the official website of the Italian Ministry of Culture www.vivaticket.it, which is available in Italian and English, but in fact there are never any tickets. As of 2019, an adult ticket costs €12 + €3.5 tax.

How to buy tickets at the last moment

How to see the famous fresco?

Having shoveled the entire Internet and analyzed dozens of intermediary sites, I can only recommend one reliable site for buying tickets online "in last moment» is www.getyourguide.ru

We go to the Milan section and choose tickets costing from 44 euros with an English-speaking tour - such tickets are on sale in about a week or two.

If you need to see the Last Supper urgently, then choose the option for 68 euros with a tour of Milan.

For example, on August 18 in the evening I managed to book tickets for August 21, while on the official website the nearest free window is not earlier than December. The cost of 2 tickets with a group tour of Milan turned out to be 136 euros.

Opening hours of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie: from 8:15 to 19:00 with a break from 12:00 to 15:00. On pre-holiday and holidays, the church is open from 11-30 to 18-30. Weekends - January 1, May 1, December 25.

How to get there

How to get to Santa Maria delle Grazie:

• Take tram 18 towards Magenta, stop Santa Maria delle Grazie
• By metro line M2, stop Conciliazione or Cadorna

↘️🇮🇹 USEFUL ARTICLES AND SITES 🇮🇹↙️ SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS

The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci is a painting so large-scale and mysterious that advice and hints have been passed down through the ages on what angle to look at it from so as not to miss a single detail. It is believed that you need to move nine meters away from the canvas and climb 3.5 meters up. Such distances seem too large until you remember the grandiose dimensions of the picture - 460 by 880 cm.

The name of Leonardo is covered with many secrets. The hidden intentions of his creations have been trying to unravel for centuries. the best minds humanity, but it is unlikely that one will ever be able to fully comprehend the full depth of his genius. However, there are facts that do not cause doubt among art critics. So, they are sure that the painting was created in 1495-1498 by order of Leonardo's patron, Duke Lodovico Sforza, who was advised by his meek wife Beatrice d'Este. The fresco is located in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. This is where the absolute truths end, and the scope for disputes, opinions and reflections begins.

The ambiguity comes through even in the definition of the painting technique that da Vinci used to create The Last Supper. Out of habit, I would like to call it a fresco, but it is not. Fresco - painting on wet plaster, and the artist painted a picture on a dry wall in order to be able to make changes and additions to it in the future.

The work is on the back wall of the refectory of the monastery. This arrangement is not strange or accidental: the theme of the picture is the last Easter supper of Jesus Christ along with his apostle disciples. All the figures depicted are located on one side of the table so that the viewer can see the face of each of them. The apostles are grouped in groups of three, and this symbol of the three is found in other elements of the picture: in triangles, which themselves are made up of lines, in the number of windows behind Jesus. The work of Leonardo da Vinci differs from a number of paintings on this topic also by the fact that there is no halo above any of the characters depicted by him, the viewer is invited to look at events from an exclusively human point of view.

The emotions of each of the apostles are unique and are not repeated by other participants in the action. The viewer has the opportunity to see that they all react in their own way to the words of Jesus Christ, who said:

“…Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me”

Most carefully, Leonardo da Vinci worked out the images of Christ and Judas. Exists interesting legend that they were written by the same person. They say that Leonardo saw the prototype of Jesus in young singer from the church choir. Three years passed, and the artist met a completely desolate man, from whom he painted Judas. The recognition of the model turned out to be shocking: he was the same young singer, but in a few years he managed to get away from goodness and purity to licentiousness and darkness.

The idea that good and evil coexist in our world can also be traced in the color scheme of the picture: the artist used techniques that are based on contrasts.

Many questions regarding The Last Supper remain unanswered, but one thing is certain - this creation is milestone in development painting XV-XVI centuries. Thus, it was possible to bring the depth of perspective to a new level and create a sense of three-dimensionality, which even the stereo cinematography of our days can envy.

Leonardo's most famous work is the famous "Last Supper" in the Milanese monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie. This painting, in its present form representing the ruin, was made between 1495 and 1497. The reason for the rapid deterioration, which made itself felt already in 1517, was a peculiar technique that combined oil with tempera.

One of the most famous works Leonardo da Vinci located in the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan "The Last Supper". The fresco, which today is a pitiful sight, was painted at the end of the 15th century. The image deteriorated very quickly, twenty years later the masterpiece already needed restoration - the reason for this was a special technique that combined tempera with oil.

The writing of the fresco was preceded by a long and careful preparation. Leonardo performed great amount sketches that helped to choose the most suitable gestures and poses of the figures. The artist considered in the plot of The Last Supper not only a deep dogmatic content, but also a huge human tragedy, which allows you to reveal the characters of the heroes of the painting, to demonstrate their emotional experiences. For da Vinci, The Last Supper became, first of all, a scene of betrayal, so one of the tasks was to introduce into this traditional biblical story a dramatic note that would give the fresco a completely new emotional coloring.

Reflecting on the concept of The Last Supper, the artist made notes describing the behavior and actions of certain participants in the scene: , the third shows his palms and raises his shoulders in surprise ... ”These records do not mention the names of the apostles, however, da Vinci unambiguously determined the posture, facial expressions and gestures of each of them. The figures had to be arranged in such a way that the whole composition represented a single whole, conveyed all the sharpness of the plot, full of passions and experiences. The apostles, according to Leonardo's plan, are not saints, but simple people who experience events in their own way.

The Last Supper is considered the most mature and complete creation of da Vinci. The painting attracts with the amazing persuasiveness of the compositional solution, the master manages to avoid any elements that could distract the viewer from the main action. The central part of the composition is occupied by the figure of Christ depicted against the background of the doorway. The apostles are moved away from Christ - this is done on purpose to focus more attention on him. For the same purpose, Leonardo placed the head of Jesus at the point of convergence of all lines of perspective. The students are divided into four groups, each of which looks dynamic and lively. The table is small, and the refectory is designed in a simple, simple style. Thanks to this, the emphasis is on characters whose plastic power is truly great. All these techniques demonstrate the deep creative intent and artistic purposefulness of the author.

Performing the painting, Leonardo set himself the most important goal - to realistically convey the mental reactions of the apostles to the words of Jesus: "One of you will betray me". The image of each student is almost a complete, formed human temperament and character, which has its own uniqueness, therefore their reaction to the prediction of Christ is different.

Da Vinci's contemporaries saw the genius of The Last Supper precisely in the subtle emotional differentiation, the embodiment of which was facilitated by the variety of poses, gestures and facial expressions of the characters. This feature of the fresco sets it apart from more early works depicting a biblical story. Other masters, such as T. Gaddi, D. Ghirlandaio, C. Roselli and A. Del Castanto, depicted students sitting at the table in calm, static poses, as if they had nothing to do with what was happening. These artists were not able to characterize Judas in sufficient detail from the psychological side and placed him isolated from the rest of the apostles on the other side of the table. Thus, the villainous opposition of Judas to the assembly was created artificially.

Da Vinci managed to break this tradition. Using the rich artistic language allowed to do without exclusively external effects. Judas in Leonardo is united in a group with other students, but his features in a certain way distinguish him from the apostles, so that an attentive viewer will quickly recognize a traitor.

All the characters in the action are endowed with individualities. Before our very eyes, in the congregation, which a moment ago was in complete calm, the greatest excitement is growing, caused by the words of Jesus, like a thunder piercing the dead silence. Most impulsive response to speech Christ three students sitting on his left side. They form an integral group, united by common gestures and willpower.

Philip jumps up, sending Jesus his bewildered question, Jacob, not hiding his indignation, throws up his hands, leaning back slightly, Thomas raises his hand, as if trying to understand and evaluate what is happening. In the group sitting on the right hand of the Teacher, a slightly different mood reigns. It is separated from the figure of Christ by a considerable distance, and the emotional restraint of its participants is obvious. Judas, clutching a purse with pieces of silver in his hands, is depicted in a turn, his image is imbued with a quivering fear of Jesus. The figure of Judas is deliberately painted in darker colors, it contrasts sharply with the light and vividly John who bowed his head limply and folded his hands humbly. Wedged between John and Judas Peter, who leans his hand on John's shoulder and says something to him, bending down to his very ear, with the other hand Peter decisively grabs the sword, wanting to protect the Teacher at all costs. The disciples sitting near Peter look at Christ in surprise, as if they are asking a dumb question, they want to know the name of the traitor. The last three figures are placed on the opposite side of the table. Matthew, stretching out his hands towards Jesus, indignantly turns to Thaddeus, seeking from him an explanation of such an unexpected message. But the elderly apostle is also in the dark, showing this with a bewildered gesture.

The figures seated at either end of the table are shown in full profile. This was not done by chance: Leonardo thus closed the movement sent from the center of the painting, the artist used a similar technique earlier in the painting “The Adoration of the Magi”, where this role was played by the figures of a young man and an old man located along the edges of the canvas. However, in this work we do not see such deep psychological tricks, traditional means of expression are mainly used here. In The Last Supper, on the contrary, a complex emotional subtext is clearly expressed, analogous to which in Italian painting 15th century does not exist. Da Vinci's contemporaries immediately recognized the genuine genius of the transfer of a story that was by no means new and took the "Last Supper" at its true worth, christening it a new word in the visual arts.

Jesus Christ, along with his disciples, is captured by Leonardo's brush during their last meeting at dinner on the evening before the execution. Therefore, it is not surprising that the fresco was made in the monastery dining room. The master, as befits a true genius, worked chaotically. At some periods, he could not leave his creation for days, and then abandon work for a while. The Last Supper was da Vinci's only major completed work. The painting was applied in an unconventional way, used oil paints, and not tempera - this allowed the work to be done much more slowly and made it possible to make some changes and additions along the way. The fresco is written in a peculiar style, the viewer may get the impression that the image is behind a misted glass.

In a recent stream of books and articles, there has been increasing speculation that Leonardo da Vinci was the leader of an underground society and what he concealed in his artwork secret codes and messages. Is it true? In addition to his role in history as famous artist, scientist and inventor, was he also the keeper of some great secret that has been passed down through the ages?

CIPHERS AND ENCRYPTION. LEONARDO DA VINCI'S ENCRYPTION METHOD.

Leonardo was certainly no stranger to the use of codes and encryption. All his notes are written backwards, mirrored. Why exactly Leonardo did this remains unclear. It has been suggested that he may have felt that some of his military inventions would be too destructive and powerful if they fell into the wrong hands. So he protected his papers using the write-back method. Other scholars point out that this type of encryption is too simple, because to decrypt it, you just need to hold the paper to the mirror. If Leonardo used it for security, he was probably preoccupied with hiding the contents only from the casual observer.

Other researchers believe that he used the reverse letter simply because it was easier for him. Leonardo was left-handed, and writing backwards was less difficult for him than for a right-handed person.

CRYPTEX

AT recent times many people attribute to Leonardo the invention of a mechanism called the cryptex. The Cryptex is a tube that consists of a series of rings engraved with the letters of the alphabet. When the rings are turned in such a way that some of the letters line up, forming the password to open the cryptex, one of the end caps can be removed and the contents (usually a piece of papyrus wrapped around a glass container of vinegar) can be extracted. If someone tries to get the contents by breaking the device, the glass container inside will break and the vinegar will dissolve what is written on the papyrus.

In his popular book (fiction) The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown credits the invention of the cryptex to Leonardo da Vinci. But real evidence the fact that it was da Vinci who invented and / or designed this device is not.

MYSTERIES OF THE MONA LISA PAINTING BY LEONARDO DA VINCI. THE MYSTERY OF GIACONDA'S SMILE.

One popular idea is that Leonardo wrote secret symbols or messages in his writings. After analyzing his famous painting, "Mona Lisa", many are sure that Leonardo, when creating the picture, used some tricks. Many people find Gioconda's smile to be particularly intrusive. They say that it seems to change even if there is no change in the properties of the paint on the surface of the painting.

Professor Margaret Livingston of Harvard University suggests that Leonardo painted the edges of the smile in the portrait in such a way that they appear to be slightly out of focus. Because of this, they are easier to see with peripheral vision than when looking directly at them. This may explain why some people report that the portrait appears to smile more when they look directly at the smile.

Another theory proposed by Christopher Tyler and Leonid Kontsevich of Research Institute eyes Smith-Kettlewell says that the smile seems to be changing due to variable levels random noise in the human visual system. If you close your eyes in a dark room, you will notice that everything is not perfectly black. The cells in our eyes create a low level of "background noise" (we see this as tiny bright and dark dots). Our brains normally filter this out, but Tyler and Kontsevich have suggested that when looking at the Mona Lisa, those little dots can change the shape of her smile. As proof of their theory, they superimposed several random sets of dots on the Mona Lisa painting and showed it to people. Some of the respondents said that the Mona Lisa's smile looks more joyful than usual, while others felt the opposite, that the dots darkened the portrait. Tyler and Kontsevich argue that noise, which is inherent in the human visual system, has the same effect. When someone looks at a picture, their visual system adds noise to the picture and changes it, it seems that the smile has changed.

Why is the Mona Lisa smiling? Over the years, people have put forward theories: some thought that she might have been pregnant, others find this smile sad and suggest that she was unhappy in marriage.

Dr. Lillian Schwartz of the Bell Labs research center came up with a version that seems unlikely but intriguing. She thinks that Gioconda is smiling because the artist played a trick on the audience. She claims that the picture is not a smiling young woman, that in fact it is a self-portrait of the artist himself. Schwartz noticed that when she used a computer to bring out the features in the Mona Lisa portrait and da Vinci's self-portrait, they matched perfectly. However, other experts point out that this may be the result of both portraits being painted with the same paints and brushes, by the same artist, and using the same painting techniques.

THE MYSTERY OF THE PICTURE THE LAST SUPPER OF LEONARDO DA VINCI.

Dan Brown, in his popular thriller The Da Vinci Code, suggests that Leonardo's painting The Last Supper has a series hidden meanings and symbols. AT fictional history there is a conspiracy by the early church to suppress the importance of Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus Christ (history testifies - to the chagrin of many believers - that she was his wife). Allegedly, Leonardo was the head secret order people who knew the truth about the Magdalene and tried to keep it. One way Leonardo does this is to leave clues in his famous work, The Last Supper.

The painting depicts the last supper of Jesus together with his disciples before his death. Leonardo tries to capture the moment when Jesus announces that he will be betrayed and that one of the men at the table will be his betrayer. The most significant clue left by Leonardo, according to Brown, is that the disciple who is identified in the painting as John is actually Mary Magdalene. Indeed, if you take a quick look at the picture, it seems that this is indeed the case. The person depicted to the right of Jesus has long hair and smooth skin, which could be considered as female features, compared to the rest of the apostles, who look a little rougher and seem older. Brown also points out that Jesus and the figure to his right, together form the outline of the letter "M". Does this symbolize Mary, or perhaps a wife (Matrimony in translation from English marriage, matrimony)? Are these the keys to secret knowledge left by Leonardo?

Despite the first impression that this figure in the picture looks more feminine, the question remains whether this figure also looked feminine to viewers of the era in which Leonardo wrote this picture. Probably not. After all, John was considered the youngest of the disciples, and he was often depicted as a beardless youth with soft features and long hair. Today, this person can be regarded as a female being, but if you return to Florence, in the fifteenth century, take into account the difference in cultures and expectations, try to delve into the ideas of those times about the feminine and masculine principles, you can no longer be sure that this is actually a woman. . Leonardo wasn't the only artist to portray John In a similar way. Domenico Ghirlandaio and Andrea del Castagno in their paintings wrote John similarly:

The Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandaio

In "Treatise on Painting", Leonardo explains that the characters in a painting should be depicted based on their types. These types can be: "wise man" or "old woman". Each type has its own characteristics, such as: beard, wrinkles, short or long hair. John, as in the photo, at the Last Supper is a student type: a protege who has not yet matured. Artists of the era, including Leonardo, would depict this type, the "student", as very young man with soft features. This is exactly what we see in the picture.

As for the "M" outline in the picture, it's the result of how the artist has composed the picture. Jesus, at the moment when he announces his betrayal, sits alone in the center of the picture, his body is shaped like a pyramid, the disciples are located in groups on either side of him. Leonardo often used the shape of a pyramid in the compositions of his work.

PRIORITY OF ZION.

There are suggestions that Leonardo was the leader of a secret group called the Priory of Sion. According to the Da Vinci Code, the Priory's mission was to keep Mary Magdalene's secret about her marriage to Jesus. But the Da Vinci Code is a fiction based on theories from a controversial non-fiction book called Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Richard Lee, Michael Baigent and Henry Lincoln, written in the early 1980s.

In the book Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, as evidence of Leonardo's membership in the Priory of Sion, a number of documents are cited that are stored in National Library France, in Paris. While there is some evidence that an order of monks with this name existed as early as 1116 CE. e., and this medieval group has nothing to do with the Priory of Sion of the 20th century, but the years of da Vinci's life: 1452 - 1519.

Documents confirming the existence of the Priory actually exist, but it is likely that they are part of a hoax conceived by a man named Pierre Plantard in the 1950s. Plantard and a group of anti-Semitic right-wingers founded the Priory in 1956. By fabricating false documents, including forged genealogical tables, Plantard apparently hoped to prove that he was a descendant of the Merovingians and heir to the French throne. A document allegedly indicating that Leonardo, along with such luminaries as Botticelli, Isaac Newton and Hugo, were members of the Priory of Sion organization - with highly likely, may also be fake.

It is unclear whether Pierre Plantard also attempted to perpetuate the story of Mary Magdalene. He is known to have claimed that the Priory possessed the treasure. Not a set of priceless documents, as in The Da Vinci Code, but a list of sacred objects written on a copper scroll, one of the scrolls Dead Sea found in the 50s. Plantard told interviewers that the Priory will return the treasure to Israel when "the time is right." The opinions of experts on this matter are divided: some believe that there is no scroll, some that it is fake, and some that it is real, but does not rightfully belong to the Priory.

The fact that Leonardo da Vinci was not a member secret society, as shown in The Da Vinci Code, is no reason to stop admiring his talent. The inclusion of this historical figure in modern science fiction is intriguing, but does not overshadow his achievements. His works of art have been and are an inspiration to millions over the centuries and contain subtleties that even the best experts are still trying to figure out. In addition, his experiments and inventions characterize him as an advanced thinker, whose research goes far beyond the scope of his contemporaries. The main secret Leonardo da Vinci is that he was a genius, but in those days not many people could understand this.