After years of discussion and planning, the long-awaited official opening of North America’s only permanent Leonardo da Vinci Museum will take place with a two-day celebration beginning Friday.

The museum, near the Riverwalk in the heart of downtown Pueblo, is one of only six in the world, including Italy, France, South Korea, Australia and Brazil.

When museum officials cut the ceremonial ribbon Friday, it will mark the culmination of a project four years in the making.

In 2022, Pueblo’s Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center hosted “Da Vinci Machines and Robotics,” a traveling exhibit featuring more than 60 machines and reconstructed art pieces based on the Renaissance-era polymath’s drawings and notebooks. The machines were built by the Artisans of Florence, a group that creates historically accurate da Vinci reconstructions from his trove of sketches and drawings. After the show concluded its run, Pueblo kept many of the models, distributing them to exhibits across the U.S.

When the Artisans of Florence expressed interest in having a permanent museum in North America, Joe Arrigo approached the Chamber of Commerce with the possibility of housing it in Pueblo, he said.

“We’re right next to an interstate highway, we’re relatively close to an international airport, we’re in the middle of the country,” said Arrigo, the museum’s president and founding director. “I thought we were an ideal location.”

Colorado’s Economic Development Commission granted final approval for the 20,000-square-foot museum in February 2025.

To many, da Vinci is primarily known as an artist who created one of the world’s most famous paintings – the Mona Lisa. But he was also a noted sculptor, engineer and scientist who saw much of the modern world hundreds of years before its time.

The museum, at 310 Central Main St., in the former Professional Bull Riders headquarters, is dedicated mostly to da Vinci’s scientific endeavors. The official name – Leonardo da Vinci of North America and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) Center – reflects Arrigo’s vision of a place where people of all ages can draw inspiration from the life and work of a man who believed anything is possible.

The STEAM Center will offer interactive displays, summer camps and workshops designed to activate young minds, officials said.

Pueblo leaders expect the museum to drive regional, national and international tourism, which would give Pueblo a welcome economic boost. A financial analysis by the Hasan School of Business at Colorado State University-Pueblo estimates the museum would generate an annual output of about $2.3 million after five years.

“We think the museum is going to help revitalize tourism in Pueblo, but it will also fill a need that our kids have had for a while,” Arrigo told The Gazette last year. “Kids here are only going to school four days a week, so we’re going to have Friday programs to keep them engaged. Our kids need this museum.”

On Thursday, ahead of the grand opening, Pueblo will host a discussion panel with three of the world’s leading authorities on da Vinci’s life and work. Titled “Inside the Mind of a Genius: Conversations with da Vinci Scholars,” the discussion will feature British historian and professor Martin Kemp, Italian professor and scholar Sara Tagliabamba, and Waqas Ahmed, founder and CEO of The DaVinci Network, a multidisciplinary think tank. The discussion will be held in Exhibit Hall B of the Pueblo Convention Center.

Several state and local leaders are expected to attend the grand opening and ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Friday, followed by an outdoor festival of family friendly activities, including face painting and caricatures, food trucks, “selfie stations,” music and medieval demonstrations.

The festivities will conclude at 5 p.m. Friday and resume from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.