[choir singing] [narrator]<i>
The north Apennines. Italy.</i> <i> Here, in the mountains
just outside Florence,</i> <i> a young Leonardo da Vinci
spent much of his time</i> <i> examining the mysteries
of nature.</i> <i> Because his parents
were not married,</i> <i> he was excluded from
the prestigious academies</i> <i> attended by many
of his contemporaries.</i> [Coppens]<i> In Florence,</i> <i> the Platonic Academy
is reformed,</i> and this institute of learning
comes about. Now, we know
that Leonardo da Vinci is not allowed to enter
this academy. [Wallace]<i> This is a young man</i> <i> who's pretty much left
on his own, in some ways,</i> <i> for up to 19 years,</i> <i> traveling around
the countryside.</i> <i> He was looking at rocks.
He was studying birds.</i> <i> He was looking
at the flow of water.</i> <i> He was studying mountains.</i> <i> He was literally immersed
in nature.</i> [birds tweeting] No other artist
in the Renaissance really showed that much interest
in the natural world and the surrounding world. He strived for knowledge.
He strived for information. <i> He is able to create
a body of knowledge</i> <i> which is on par with the body
of information</i> <i> which the Platonic Academy,
as a group of beings,</i> <i> is able to put out.</i> [narrator]<i> It was also
in the north Apennine Mountains</i> <i> that Leonardo was believed
to have discovered the cave</i> <i> that he wrote about
in his journal.</i> [Roberts]<i>
The story of the cave,</i> <i> it's very likely
that it happened</i> <i> around 1480,</i> <i> since it appears
that that's the moment</i> <i> at which this is written
in the codex.</i> The fact that Leonardo
chooses to record this encounter with the cave I think indicates that it had
a significant impact on the artist psychologically. [narrator]<i>
But although the exact location</i> <i> of the cave and the date,
Leonardo discovered it,</i> <i> remains unknown,</i> <i> there are many who believe
that it may provide the key</i> <i> to understanding the source</i> <i> of the artist's
incredible genius,</i> <i> and the answer to the mystery
of what happened to him</i> <i> during his missing two years.</i> [Henry]<i> He goes inside the cave,
then he disappears.</i> <i> And it suggest to me
time travel portals.</i> <i> He's opening portals,
or stargates,</i> and beaming to either
the past or the future, and then returning
to the present time. [Childress]<i> In history,
you have certain people,</i> <i> like Leonardo da Vinci,</i> <i> whose genius
is just so incredible,</i> <i> and the visions
that they have...</i> <i> In many ways it's like
they're able to see the future.</i> <i> And they're not going to just
influence the world then.</i> But what they're gonna do
is gonna dramatically change the world forever. <i> And you have to wonder
where people get</i> <i> this kind of inspiration.</i> <i> And in the case of Leonardo,</i> <i> he was able to see things
and invent them, in a sense,</i> <i> things that we weren't gonna
have for hundreds of years.</i> [narrator]<i> Is it really possible</i> <i> that Leonardo da Vinci
may have obtained</i> <i> his incredible creative
and scientific knowledge</i> <i> as the direct result of
an extraterrestrial encounter?</i> <i> Or might Leonardo have fallen
through a time portal,</i> <i> one which allowed him
to actually visit the future?</i> <i> A future where robots,
helicopters,</i> <i> military weapons,</i> <i> and other amazing machines
actually existed.</i> <i> And which the artist
would later try to duplicate.</i> <i> Some ancient astronaut
theorists</i> <i> believe the answer
can be traced back</i> <i> to work he did
on the</i> Annunciation, <i> and the significance of his
so-called disappearing angel.</i> Leonardo and Verrocchio's<i>
Annunciation</i> portrays the moment at which
the angel Gabriel has arrived
and is telling the Virgin Mary <i> that she's pregnant
with the Son of God.</i> [Tsoukalos]<i> What some scholars
have speculated</i> is that by painting the angel
in the<i> Annunciation</i> so that it disappears
under x-ray, <i> he is telling us that,
like Gabriel,</i> <i> he is the messenger.</i> <i> And then,
with his next painting,</i> <i>we're told that this great gift
to mankind has arrived.</i> <i> And Leonardo da Vinci's
contributions to mankind</i> are truly a gift to the world. [Childress]<i> You have to wonder
if Leonardo wasn't doing this</i> <i> because he was being
encouraged in secret</i> by some kind
of extraterrestrial masters who were somehow behind him. [narrator]<i>
Might Leonardo da Vinci,</i> <i> the man many have called</i> <i> the greatest genius
who ever lived,</i> <i> have been chosen
by extraterrestrial beings</i> <i> to accelerate the advancement
of the human race?</i> <i> Or was he merely trying
to communicate</i> <i> the incredible
future inventions</i> <i> he had witnessed firsthand.</i> [Harris]<i> Without doubt,
the most influential</i> <i> personality
of the first millennium</i> <i> was Jesus.</i> Now you go
to the second millennium. And I believe Leonardo
is the most important, dominant personality, <i> made the most contributions
in the most areas</i> <i> during those thousand years.</i> [Coppens]<i> Wherever we look
in ancient times,</i> <i> we find that a genius
was always identified</i> <i> with superhero,
divine qualities.</i> <i> Even today, we put geniuses
on a separate pedestal</i> <i> and almost worship them.</i> This is really something
throughout mankind's history. So the question is,
where does this come from? <i> And whenever you look
into mythology,</i> <i> you'll also find
that the geniuses</i> <i> were the ones who were created
by the gods.</i> <i> Genius and divine
go hand in hand.</i> [narrator]<i>
Florence, Italy, 1503.</i> <i> Leonardo da Vinci
begins work on a portrait</i> <i> commissioned by a wealthy
silk merchant for his wife.</i> <i> But it is a painting
he will never part with,</i> <i> obsessing over every detail</i> <i> for what would be
the last 16 years of his life.</i> <i> The</i> Mona Lisa. It is only a portrait,
and yet it seems to have dimensions and mysteries
that have yet to be explained. The Mona Lisa's smile
is not the kind of smile that we tend to see
in portraits. <i> She seems to know something
that we don't.</i> [Kemp]<i>
What starts as a portrait,</i> <i> a representation
of a woman,</i> turns into something
quite different. It turns into a kind
of philosophical medication <i> on all his intellectual
concerns.</i> [narrator]<i>
What was it about the</i> Mona Lisa <i> that would so consume
the final years</i> <i> of Leonardo da Vinci's life?</i> <i> And why would he dedicate
so much of his time</i> <i> to a single 20-by-30-inch
portrait?</i> There are a lot of theories
that Leonardo has secret symbols and secret messages
in his paintings. <i> Everything he's doing,</i> <i> he's rethinking
even traditional subjects</i> <i> in the very beginning,</i> <i> and really imagining them
in new and creative ways.</i> [narrator]<i> All his life,
Leonardo da Vinci</i> <i> incorporated a technique
called mirror writing.</i> <i> Is it possible
that he also used</i> <i> a similar technique
in his artwork...</i> <i> leaving hidden messages</i> <i> that can only be revealed
with the use of mirrors?</i> The mirror writing is something
which defines him. And so the possibility
that he was also using <i> the mirror
as an unknown dimension,</i> <i> whereby he needs
to have the mirror</i> <i> to see certain things
put in his paintings,</i> <i> is actually something
which I think</i> <i> we need to explore.</i> [narrator]<i>
At Northeastern University</i> <i> in Boston, Massachusetts,</i> <i> graphic designer
Terrence Masson</i> <i> uses computer technology
to search for hidden messages</i> <i> in Leonardo's masterworks.</i> You know, that he was
insatiably curious about reflections
and refractions and optics and the human anatomy
of the eye, <i> and how that mirrored
reflections</i> <i> of conical-shaped mirrors.</i> [narrator]<i> Is it possible
that Leonardo</i> <i> applied his mirror technique</i> <i> to hide secret messages
in the</i> Mona Lisa? <i> But if so, why?</i> So, our classic<i> Mona Lisa.</i> Leonardo's portraiture always had very dramatic
hand positioning. This hand position was a clue
to the access points of rotation
of these mirrored angles. So if we try this,
what do we see? [narrator]<i>
Is this helmet-shaped creature</i> <i> simply the product
of a parlor trick?</i> <i> If so, then why can a similar
creature be seen</i> <i> in another famous painting
by da Vinci?</i> Virgin and Child
with Saint Anne. [Masson] Well, this painting,<i>
Virgin of the Rocks,</i> we always notice the dramatic
hand poses of Leonardo. Is that giving us a hint
about where to put the reflective plain? So we're in
a 3D environment here. We can do anything we want.
We just make a little duplicate. Come in a little closer. That's a little spooky. So, interesting similarity to what we did
with the<i> Mona Lisa,</i> right? <i> We've got something
close to modern understanding</i> <i> of alien heads.</i> [narrator]<i> Could there really
be hidden messages</i> <i> in Leonardo da Vinci's
paintings?</i> <i> Messages that reveal
the artist's connection</i> <i> to otherworldly beings.</i> <i> Amboise, France, 1513.</i> <i> At Château du Clos Lucé,</i> <i>a 61-year-old Leonardo da Vinci</i> <i> begins work on what will be
his final painting.</i> <i> Three years later,
he completes his portrait</i> <i> of an androgynous figure</i> <i> emerging from a shadowy
background.</i> <i> St. John the Baptist.</i> Picture this painting
in a dimly lit chapel. Before lighting the candle,
you don't see anything. You light the candle, <i> and the light of the flame</i> <i> illuminates the painting,</i> <i> and there emerges,
against a dark background,</i> <i> St. John the Baptist.</i> And the pointing upward
to heaven, saying, <i> "I'm from the light.
I'm witnessing to the light."</i> <i>He's pointing to another realm.</i> [Kwakkelstein]<i> Oh, yes.</i> <i> This is where divine wisdom
comes from.</i> This is the source
of everything. The first words
of St. John are, "I saw the light.
I will come to this earth." Wow. [Picknett]<i> Leonardo was encoding</i> <i> extraordinary secrets
in his paintings.</i> He wanted to imbue his work
for the future generations with his own private message. <i> His paintings are like portals
to another world,</i> <i> where the real Leonardo
inhabits.</i> <i> But whether we're big enough</i> <i> to accept what he has to say</i> <i> is quite another matter.</i> I think he had
some very subtle messages he wanted to convey to not the people of that time, but to the people of our time. <i> And we have to look for it.</i> <i> Is he talking about
extraterrestrials?</i> <i>Is he talking about the future?</i> Investigators
have recently found some pretty astonishing things about Leonardo da Vinci's
painting<i> John the Baptist.</i> <i> And they mirror the image
to create a double image.</i> <i> And then through
an enhancement process,</i> <i> they're able to bring out
what seems to be</i> <i> the face
of an extraterrestrial.</i> <i> It's a pretty unusual thing.</i> And we know that da Vinci did
use this mirroring technique. <i> And so, this isn't something
that is so far-fetched</i> <i> that he would do.</i> Da Vinci is one of a long line
of artists who have told us, beginning with
the Ancient Egyptians and running through the early
Christians and Tibetans, that art is a medium,
it's a conduit, <i> through which ordinary people</i> <i> can connect with higher
dimensional beings,</i> <i> even extraterrestrials.</i> <i> And I think this
is the ultimate message</i> <i> that Leonardo placed
in the codes</i> <i> and the symbols
within his paintings.</i> [narrator]<i>
Did Leonardo da Vinci</i> <i> experience an extraterrestrial
encounter,</i> <i> one that opened his mind
to what was once considered</i> <i> forbidden knowledge?</i> <i> Florence, Italy, 2002.</i> <i> Using infrared diagnostic
techniques,</i> <i> Dr. Maurizio Seracini
uncovers the underdrawing,</i> <i> or preliminary sketch,</i> <i> done by Leonardo da Vinci
for his unfinished painting</i> Adoration of the Magi. <i> Commissioned in 1481,</i> <i> the work depicts the Biblical
story of the Three Wise Men</i> <i> visiting the infant Jesus
in Bethlehem.</i> <i> But by viewing the painting
with this new technology,</i> <i> it becomes apparent
that Leonardo's original sketch</i> <i> actually included
many more details</i> <i> than those that could be seen
with just the naked eye.</i> The first time
I aimed the camera, the infrared camera,
through the<i> Adoration...</i> I felt very privileged. <i> Because for the first time
in 500 years,</i> <i> I managed to see probably
the best creativity effort</i> <i> of Leonardo on a work of art.</i> <i> And science can help you
to go back,</i> <i> like if you were
in a time machine.</i> <i> And I saw dozens of figures.</i> <i> Fighting horses.</i> <i> Nature.</i> <i> Architecture.</i> <i> And now my eyes alone
could not see them</i> <i> because they were covered</i> <i> by a brownish monochrome
layer of paint</i> that later I understood
was not applied by Leonardo. <i> In the background
of the top left,</i> <i> you could see
a couple of people</i> <i> sitting in despair on stairs
of a temple in ruins.</i> <i> Well, aiming the camera
at this scene,</i> <i> then suddenly a completely
different view came out.</i> The detail that was painted over was a scene of a pagan temple <i> that was rising up
through the ruins</i> <i> of a Christian church.</i> <i> And this was considered
problematic</i> <i> during the Renaissance period</i> with Christianity as the one
and only true religion. [narrator]<i>
Upon close examination</i> <i> of da Vinci's original sketch,</i> <i> instead of a temple in ruins,</i> <i> the artist seemed
to be depicting a scenario</i> <i> in which an Egyptian temple
is being rebuilt.</i> <i> Most notable is the fact
that one of the temple columns</i> <i> is capped by a lotus flower,</i> <i> which in Ancient Egypt
represented the so-called</i> <i> flower of life.</i> [Cory]<i> The flower of life
is the information</i> behind how the universe
was created. <i> Everything in the universe
is geometric.</i> <i> Sacred geometry implies</i> <i> that there is intelligence
behind it.</i> [man]<i> It's believed by mystics
to be a symbol</i> <i> of advanced
super-consciousness.</i> <i> A way of plugging
into the knowledge</i> <i> possessed
by extraterrestrial beings.</i> Da Vinci, we can fairly say, was practically
obsessed with it. <i> And one wonders if da Vinci
actually tapped into</i> the ultimate cosmic secrets represented
by the flower of life.
