Genius illuminated as da Vinci drawings go on show

One sketch is a study for da Vinci's famous flying machine, another picture shows a wing that could be operated by a crankshaft.

There's also a plan for a portable bridge to be used in emergencies, and for a mechanism to regulate water flow in a fountain.

Of course, da Vinci was a genius, said Monsignor Alberto Rocca, director of Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana, which has housed the Codex Atlanticus since 1637.

To maintain their condition, the drawings can be exhibited for a maximum of 90 days, before being returned to Italy to rest in darkness for three years.

They show a tiny slice of da Vinci's huge imagination but also that he had to work with the technology of 15th century, Rocca said, highlighting that the polymath's flying machines are to be made of wood rather than titanium.

The use of technology is central to the exhibition, which features massive, moving projections of the artist's paintings set to music, as well as other innovations designed to bring his work to life - or even larger than life.

The use of technology is central to Leonardo da Vinci - 500 Years of Genius. (Con Chronis/AAP PHOTOS)

Da Vinci may have imagined flying machines in the 15th century, but he probably never envisaged an immersive virtual reality flying machine experience (by the company Birdly) designed to simulate soaring over the city of Florence.

Rocca believes the use of multimedia technology will help visitors contextualise the era of Leonardo's drawings and inventions - and says there's more technology at work than people realise.

The Biblioteca Ambrosiana deployed the latest innovations when it was founded in the 17th century and has remained at the cutting edge of conservation technology ever since, Rocca said.

"There is always an exchange between past and present that probably people don't perceive but is always very high," he told AAP.

* Leonardo da Vinci - 500 Years of Genius is at The Lume, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from Saturday.