They Found Hidden Tunnels From Da Vinci’s Sketch

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Researchers recently found underground passages hidden beneath old buildings, matching designs from da Vinci’s mysterious drawings. These tunnels might have been escape routes, secret workshops, or even part of a hidden defense system. Some believe da Vinci planned them for royalty or military strategies, using his genius to create something way ahead of his time. Some of these tunnels were completely forgotten for centuries until experts finally linked them to his old sketches. Now, archaeologists are exploring deeper, hoping to uncover more of da Vinci’s lost secrets!  Credit: Xpo Factory / YouTube SPIETV / YouTube CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: Vis aerienne Luc Viatour: By Photography Luc Viatour, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3083094 Monumento di Ludovico e Beatrice: By Ugo franchini, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8881183 Santa Maria delle Grazie: By Marcin Białek, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28012972 CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0: Calco statua funebre di Beatrice d'Este al Victoria: By Beaest, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116468713 Rocca Sforzesca di Imola: By Vanni Lazzari, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109588863 Leonardo Da Vinci Robot: By Leonardo3 - Mario Taddei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5666658 Tomb of Beatrice d Este: By Roberto Ferrari - https://flic.kr/p/5Hvfox, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6583563 Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

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00:00Scientists have recently discovered Leonardo da Vinci's hidden passages

00:04under a medieval castle in Italy. They followed a newly found 15th-century sketch by the creator

00:11of the Mona Lisa and found one of the unexplored architectural wonders from the age of the Renaissance.

00:18Construction of the Sforza Castle started back in 1358, but it was destroyed about a century later

00:24during a local crisis. Then, in 1450, Francesco Sforza, the Duke of Milan, decided to rebuild it

00:32on the old ruins. After he passed away, his son Ludovico took over and kept improving the castle.

00:39He brought in some of the best artists of the time, including Leonardo da Vinci,

00:43to decorate its walls. We can still see Leonardo's frescoes today in the Room of Wooden Boards.

00:50While he was working at the castle, da Vinci also recorded some historical underground passages

00:56hidden beneath the outer wall. The drawing, dated between 1487 and 1490, was found at the

01:02Institut de France in Paris. The sketch is highly precise, and it proves that Leonardo

01:08was really interested in fortification design and was great at documenting existing structures.

01:15Historical records show that Ludovico ordered the building of an underground passageway

01:20that led straight to a basilica where his wife was buried. Ludovico married Beatrice in 1491,

01:26and they had a happy but tragically short marriage as Beatrice passed away while giving birth in 1497.

01:33The Duke locked himself away for weeks, grew a beard, and wore only black clothes while he was

01:39mourning his beloved wife. The secret tunnel may have stretched over half a mile and would let

01:45Ludovico visit her grave in private. It could've served as an escape route if the castle was ever

01:51under siege. The existence of the tunnels remained one of the mysteries of the Renaissance for years,

01:56as no one knew for sure they were there. But now, scientists finally uncovered the

02:02secret history. They used a combination of ground-penetrating radar and laser scanning

02:07to build up an accurate 3D model of all the structures under the castle.

02:12They found the tunnels da Vinci alluded to in his drawings, and it looks like they may have only

02:17been a small part of a whole system of historical underground passages. The goal is to create a

02:23complete digital twin of the castle that will not only show all the preserved constructions,

02:28but also the ancient ones that are no longer visible. They also plan to add augmented reality

02:34to the virtual paths to let visitors discover Leonardo da Vinci's hidden passages.

02:39Now, we don't know if the genius actually took part in constructing the hidden passages

02:44that scientists recently discovered. But we do know about some other Leonardo da Vinci inventions.

02:50He created the first satellite-like map in 1502, long before photography or satellites were even

02:56a concept. A famous figure in Italy, Cesare Borgia, invited Leonardo to a small town called

03:04Imola near Bologna to create a highly detailed map for him. Back then, maps were not very precise,

03:11as no one had figured out how to show exact distances on a smaller scale. Instead, people

03:17spent a lot of time decorating them with dragons, roses, fancy castles, mountain ranges, flowers,

03:23and other artistic details. These maps looked more like beautiful paintings meant to be displayed,

03:28rather than practical tools for navigation. But Cesare Borgia wanted something truly functional,

03:34and Leonardo managed to create something revolutionary in the field of cartography.

03:40If you compare satellite images of Imola today with Leonardo's map, the similarities are

03:44striking. He captured every alley, curve of the streets, roadways, and even the exact sizes of

03:51the buildings. And he did it all by hand, using just a pencil, ruler, compass, and several of

03:57his own clever inventions. To gather all the necessary data, the genius walked through the

04:03streets for weeks, using a large wheel that spun as he moved, recording the distance with a cable.

04:09Using the magnetic compass, he determined precise directions. He also developed a tool called the

04:15busola, which measured angles inside a circle. With this, he could track the exact turns of each

04:21street and the size of the intersections. He figured out the distances between houses and

04:26major roads. Then, back at home, he used his notes and calculations to draw the map to scale

04:33with incredible precision. In his work, da Vinci also used a technique developed by Florentine

04:39humanist Leon Battista Alberti. He created a mapping method where you could place an entire

04:45city inside a circle using polar coordinates. At the center of the city, 8 straight lines met,

04:51representing the main directions of a compass. Leonardo used this system to divide the town

04:57into 8 sections. He didn't overlook even the smallest buildings, which made his map one of

05:02the most advanced of its time. The Italian genius had a big dream

05:08to build a machine that could let people fly. He studied how birds, bats, and kites moved through

05:14the air and designed a special flying machine. He believed that if he could copy their movements,

05:19humans might be able to soar like them. Da Vinci's design looked a lot like a bat,

05:25with two large pointed wings that stretched over 33 feet wide. He planned to build the frame from

05:31lightweight pine wood and cover it with raw silk to make it strong but not too heavy. The person

05:37flying it would lie on their stomach on a wooden board in the center. To make the wings flap,

05:42the pilot had to pedal a crank with their feet, which was connected to a system of rods and

05:47pulleys. There was also a hand crank for extra power and even a headpiece to help steer. As the

05:53person moved their hands and feet, the wings would flap and twist, just like a bird's.

05:58But there was one big problem – humans aren't strong enough to make the machine lift off the

06:03ground. Even though it might've worked once in the air, there was no way for a person to get it

06:08flying on their own. Leonardo probably realized this, but his amazing idea still inspired flying

06:15machines that came centuries later. Da Vinci was way ahead of his time with many

06:21of his inventions, but his idea for a humanoid robot was especially futuristic. He was working

06:27under the patronage of the Sforza family, the one that had those ancient tunnels of Italy built.

06:33The genius designed a mechanical knight that could move its arms, turn its neck,

06:38and even open and close its mouth. Da Vinci had good knowledge of anatomy and the mechanics of

06:43body movements that helped him. His unusual creation used an external system of cables.

06:49A hand crank set it in motion, and there was also an internal gear-driven mechanism.

06:54About 450 years later, Da Vinci's detailed sketches of the robotic knight were rediscovered

07:00in the 1950s. Several researchers tried to recreate the robot from those sketches.

07:06In 2002, a roboticist who developed systems for NASA and Lockheed Martin took inspiration from

07:12the old notes and built a functioning model of Da Vinci's robotic knight.

07:17Another design Leonardo created for Duke Sforza was a special kind of bridge that could be taken

07:23apart and carried easily. It was made for defense forces who needed to cross rivers or moats while

07:29traveling. This bridge would swing across the water and land on the other side. It had wheels

07:35and used a rope and pulley system, so it could be set up quickly and packed away just as fast.

07:40To keep it steady, it even had a special weight to help balance it.

07:44Leonardo wrote in his notes that the bridge was light yet strong, and he designed several

07:50bridges like this for the Duke. One of his other designs was a bridge that could be built very

07:54quickly, and the defense forces would move across multiple rivers.

07:59As scientists continue to study Leonardo Da Vinci's hidden passages, they reveal new chapters

08:05in human history. Who knows what other unexplored architectural structures they will find?

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