A vacant building, constructed with state tourism incentives, on Pueblo’s downtown riverwalk has been identified by city leaders to house the museum. This 18,000+ sq ft space will include exhibits, a gift shop and outdoor Cafe Leonardo. Future expansion will include the restored Centennial planetarium.
Our offices are located at
121 W. City Center Drive, Ste 240, Pueblo, CO 81003
The Sangre de Cristo Arts Center displayed an exhibit of Leonardo da Vinci’s models. After the exhibit ended, we kept the models in Pueblo and loaned them out to exhibits nationwide. The increasing interest in these exhibits and the support from Pueblo made it the perfect spot to open the first Leonardo da Vinci Museum in North America. Plus, the area’s connection to steelmaking and manufacturing makes it an ideal place to celebrate Leonardo da Vinci’s genius and inspire future generations to explore STEAM fields.
Currently, the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America is not seeking additional local city or county funds to launch the project. We will negotiate a lease agreement that is appropriate for the venue and meets the needs of the RTA agreement with the State of Colorado.
Colorado passed the Regional Tourism Act in 2009 to help fund large tourism projects to attract new visitors from out of state after the 2008 Great Recession. The money comes from state sales tax increment financing. When a new development in a defined geographic area creates new tax revenue, an increment of that new revenue will finance the projects. Projects can borrow money against that increment of sales tax revenue. Each year until the payments total the whole funds award, the State pays the project’s financing entity the increment of sales tax from the geographic area.
The Regional Tourism Act Program funded projects that:
Additionally, the space must have international, and sports components based on the previous occupant.
We are in the process of securing a location for the center in Pueblo, CO. After that occurs, we will have a more specific launch timeline in place for our launch phases.
Yes. Our board and team are made up of local business owners, artists, current museum board members, educators, STEM professionals, and consultants who are active in local marketing and have experience with other museums in Pueblo. The organization is a local nonprofit and the Artisans of Florence have established a Colorado based company.
The Artisans of Florence design, develop and deliver award-winning, interactive, science and historical exhibitions to museums, science centers, art galleries and private institutions worldwide. In partnership with the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci (Florence, Italy) they have developed a series of blockbuster exhibitions to suit venues of all sizes and audiences.
Keep an eye out as we release job opportunities. These will include roles in museum administration and design, marketing, education with a focus on science, match, technology and engineering, museum development, docents and more! Send us your interest and a resume to info@leonardomuseumna.org
While this will be the first museum in North America, there are other museums in Florence, Italy; Amboise, France; Seoul, South Korea; Australia and Brazil.
Conducted by The Thomas V. Healy Center for Business and Economic Research at the Hasan School of Business at Colorado State University-Pueblo
Report Prepared by: Michael Wakefield, Ph.D.
Numbers were derived based on attendance rates at similar museums in the region, as well as rates at the other Leonardo da Vinci Museums around the world.
Florence, Italy 2023:
Amboise, France 2024:
Western Australia Exhibit:
Sokcho, South Korea Museum:
In 2024, models stored in Pueblo, CO were used for exhibits in: Chicago, Miami, NYC, Detroit, LA, San Diego
