Walk into a wing of the Pueblo Convention Center and you'll enter into a world of ingenious machines crafted from rich wood and other natural materials, a library containing beautifully printed copies of codices or notebooks and more. It's all at the new Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America, just off the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk.
The famed 15th-century artist Leonardo da Vinci designed sometimes functional, sometimes fantastical devices for theater, war, travel and more.
“da Vinci did not separate art from other subjects if he was working in architecture or botany or whatever his subject was, he was a polymath,” with a broad knowledge of all kinds of things said Joe Arrigo, who leads the museum.
Many of the exhibits are hands-on. There’s a STEAM – science, technology, engineering, art and math – learning and maker space complete with 3-D printers, much of it geared toward young people.
“If we ignite curiosity and encourage exploration,” Arrigo said, “and then help students learn creative thinking and problem solving skills, they will become innovators and that will take us into the future.”
The museum is collaborating with local Pueblo area schools and colleges on educational programming. Arrigo said that cooperation will be “transformational in how we create things in Pueblo, how we serve our community and do everything we can to prevent silos of special interest.”
How a da Vinci museum ended up in Pueblo
Decades ago, Arrigo said, a group of European craftsmen known as the Artisans of Florence began building and displaying wooden models based on da Vinci’s blueprint-like manuscripts. The Sangre de Cristo Art Center hosted a travelling exhibit of the models, and the builders ended up storing some of their work at PuebloPlex, the redeveloped former US Army Chemical Depot near the airport. That exhibit launched conversations about a permanent museum in Pueblo.
The new museum is housed in what was originally a fitness facility for the Professional Bull Riders organization, but was never well-utilized and was vacated when PBR left Pueblo about four years ago.
Now along with dozens of models of da Vinci devices and other replica artwork, the interior is decorated with Italian Renaissance inspired imagery and finishes, much of it hand-painted by Southern Colorado artists, like Bonnie Waugh.
Arrigo said the museum nonprofit began a $4 million capital campaign about a year ago and has raised about half of that amount from local donors and grants.
Although there will be ticket sales and other revenue coming into the museum, “There's always going to be that delta between what you can earn and what it costs to run a facility like this,” he said. “That's where we will be looking for people who believe in us and the generosity of people that are aligned with our mission.”
Meanwhile Pueblo City Council is considering a new proposal to provide about $1.8 million from its economic development funds for the museum project. This money comes from a half-cent sales tax aimed at bringing new businesses to the city and creating primary jobs.
The proposal calls for two incentives for the museum: $885,000 for “placemaking” and $932,044 tied to 25 new full‑time jobs with an average annual wage of $37,000.
City councillor Roger Gomez expressed concerns about using public funds for the museum during the first presentation of the proposal earlier this week.
“I love the fact that we're bringing this museum here,” he said, “but you’ve got to be upfront. To come back now, when back then (when the project first began) there was no cost (to taxpayers) associated with (it).”
Council is expected to hold a public hearing and final vote on the proposal during its regular meeting on June 22.
The Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America officially opens on Friday, June 12 with a ribbon cutting and a two-day outdoor festival that runs through Saturday.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated for clarification purposes at 10:10 a.m. on June 11, 2026
