Ancient Aliens s13e02 Episode Script
Da Vinci’s Forbidden Codes
1 He was an artist whose paintings have become priceless masterpieces.
Leonardo produced some of the world's most recognizable paintings The Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Lady with an Ermine.
He was a genius whose inventions were centuries ahead of their time.
He drew construction plans for tanks, for helicopters, all sorts of wild things that came into reality during our lifetime, right now.
But there are those who believe that Leonardo da Vinci was inspired by an extraterrestrial intelligence, that his paintings are embedded with secret knowledge and contain codes which, when deciphered, will provide the keys to unlocking the universe.
I think da Vinci is trying to tell us that there's a higher intelligence that operates in our world.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, we move to the Leonardo da Vinci, the Salvator Mundi, the masterpiece by Leonardo of Christ the Savior, previously in the collections of three kings of England.
New York City.
November 15, 2017.
$370 million.
Back to Francoise's clients at $370 million dollars, ladies and gentlemen.
$400 million! At a Christie's auction at Rockefeller Center, Leonardo da Vinci's newly authenticated painting Salvator Mundi sells for a record-breaking $400 million.
- Sold.
- The buyer is a Saudi prince, representing the new Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi.
But why was a member of the Saudi royal family Or anyone so willing to pay such an incredible price for a work of art? Leonardo da Vinci has captured the fascination of so many people.
I really believe he was way ahead of his time.
But if Leonardo were alive today and realized how much his paintings would go for, he'd go crazy.
It's a lot of money for a painting.
You ask yourself if there's another possibility.
There are those who believe that the Salvator Mundi is much more than a priceless piece of Renaissance art.
They believe, when considered in context with other examples of da Vinci's paintings, that it contains a piece of a giant puzzle, one that, when put together, could reveal the secrets of the universe.
April 15, 1452.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, the illegitimate child of a nobleman and his maid, is born in Vinci, Italy.
If you were not entitled to take your father's name, your last name just became the town you came from.
This probably aided his development.
The fact that he didn't belong also meant that he wasn't caught up in the official version of reality.
He was free enough to have his own ideas.
When he was a teenager, Leonardo settled in nearby Florence.
At that time, the city was a cultural mecca, the beating heart of a classical revival known as the Renaissance.
The Renaissance is a resurgence of new ideas and approaches and interests in not only antiquity but in the reinterpretation of the human condition.
It reinvents, really, the culture of the time.
Leonardo received an informal education in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio, but was also largely self-taught.
Despite this Or perhaps because of it He excelled at a staggering range of disciplines.
Da Vinci was way ahead of his time during the period in which he lived.
He drew construction plans for tanks for helicopters, all sorts of wild things that came into reality during our lifetime, right now.
In March 2018, author and ancient astronaut theorist William Henry traveled to Florence to learn more about the Renaissance master.
He was also eager to find out, firsthand, if there was any truth to the theory that da Vinci hid secret messages in his paintings.
At the Piazzale Michelangelo, overlooking the city, Henry met with Dr.
Michael Kwakkelstein, who has made it his life's work to discover everything there is to know about Leonardo da Vinci.
I'm so excited to be here in Florence, home of Leonardo.
Yeah, you look around, you start to see that these are what you see in Leonardo's paintings.
Absolutely.
He took his inspiration just from those hills, those trees.
500 years ago, Florence was, of course, a much smaller city.
- Right.
- So just crossing the Arno over there, you see the Ponte Vecchio, Yes.
-Leonardo would find himself amidst nature to study the fall of water or the movement of water, - to study birds.
- Leonardo created just a prodigious volume of an explosion, really, of creativity.
What do we have left of his legacy? Do we have a lot? A little? Well, we have a dozen paintings.
Some of these paintings are unfinished.
Some of these paintings are in a bad state.
Uh, but we have his notebooks, his manuscripts It's like a map - of his mind, all these writings.
- Wow.
You've personally been able to explore those notebooks - and spent your life - I'm still working on it.
It's a life work.
But while Leonardo's genius was highly regarded in his lifetime, he was also highly scrutinized by the Roman Catholic Church, which remained a powerful political force throughout Italy and much of the world.
During the Renaissance, there was a rediscovery of ancient classical documents that were stored in monasteries after the dissolution of the Roman Empire.
Because of these new discoveries, new ideas were circulating, ideas from great minds like Plato, Aristotle and Galen from the ancient world.
But these great ideas often did not combine well with Christianity, and Leonardo is someone who represents a point of conflict.
It is this ancient knowledge that has led many scholars and ancient astronaut theorists to suggest that da Vinci, while Christian, was also open to a wide range of spiritual philosophies.
Philosophies which, if revealed, would have placed him in opposition to the strict teachings of the Catholic Church, and would have caused him to be publicly shunned as a heretic.
It's almost certain that Leonardo had access to secret knowledge.
Leonardo was actually not, as a lot of people think today, some kind of atheist.
Leonardo was a heretic.
He passionately believed in something that was outside of the mainstream religion, and therefore very dangerous.
Florence, Italy.
2002.
Using infrared diagnostic techniques, Dr.
Maurizio Seracini uncovers the underdrawing, or preliminary sketch, done by Leonardo da Vinci for his unfinished painting Adoration of the Magi.
Commissioned in 1481, the work depicts the biblical story of the three wise men visiting the infant Jesus in Bethlehem.
But by viewing the painting with this new technology, it becomes apparent that Leonardo's original sketch actually included many more details than those that could be seen with just the naked eye.
The first time I aimed the camera, the infrared camera, to the, uh, to the Adoration, uh I felt very privileged.
Because for the first time in 500 years, I managed to see probably the best creativity effort of Leonardo on a work of art.
And science can help you to go back, like if you were in a time machine, and I saw dozens of figures Fighting horses, uh nature, architecture.
And now my eyes alone could not see them, because they were covered by a brownish monochrome layer of paint that later I understood was not applied by Leonardo.
In the background of the top left, you could see a couple of people sitting in despair on stairs of a temple in ruins.
Well, aiming the camera at the scene, then suddenly a completely different view came out.
The detail that was painted over was a scene of a pagan temple that was rising up through the ruins of a Christian church.
And this was considered problematic during the Renaissance period with Christianity as the one and only true religion.
Upon close examination of da Vinci's original sketch, instead of a temple in ruins, the artist seemed to be depicting a scenario in which an Egyptian temple is being rebuilt.
Most notable is the fact that one of the temple columns is capped by a lotus flower, which in ancient Egypt represented the so-called, "Flower of Life.
" The Flower of Life is the information behind how the universe was created.
Everything in the universe is geometric.
Sacred geometry implies that there is intelligence behind it.
It's believed by mystics to be a symbol of advanced super consciousness, a way of plugging into the knowledge possessed by extraterrestrial beings.
Da Vinci, we can fairly say, was practically obsessed with it.
And one wonders if da Vinci actually tapped into the ultimate cosmic secrets represented by the Flower of Life.
Cosmic secrets? Sacred geometry? Was Leonardo da Vinci encoding his paintings with forbidden knowledge? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes.
And they believe that knowledge may have been given to him after direct contact with extraterrestrial beings.
Recognized as a genius even in his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci has one of the most thoroughly recorded lives of all the Renaissance artists.
Da Vinci was such a popular figure that his life was documented in great detail.
However, what's interesting is that there are two years missing from his existence.
He basically disappeared off of the face of the earth.
From 1476 to 1478, Leonardo da Vinci's activities completely disappear from the historical record.
The gap occurs when the artist was between 24 to 26 years old, just at the point when he was beginning to come into prominence.
So what could account for these missing years? Ancient astronaut theorists point to a strange experience the artist had while hiking near a cave.
It is one of the very few autobiographical anecdotes da Vinci ever made in his personal journal.
He came across this cave.
And as he stood in front of it, all of a sudden he felt drawn to go inside in order to find out about the miracle or the wonderment that's inside.
We don't know what happened inside this cave, but it's quite possible that Leonardo da Vinci actually encountered extraterrestrial teachers who then gave him certain information.
And it's this knowledge, perhaps, that made Leonardo da Vinci the incredible genius that he was.
I'm not sure Leonardo da Vinci went to another world, but I have a feeling that this guy, somehow, through dreaming or going through some kind of dimension, was able to see the future, our future.
Those we call geniuses, such as Leonardo da Vinci, are able to discern and detect these codes that are coming to them from these higher levels of reality and utilize them in their work, in their art, in their inventions to improve this physical world that we live in.
Unlike other artists, Leonardo da Vinci did not have to measure the ratios and the proportion.
It just came to him spontaneously.
He was tapping into something that allowed him to bring down knowledge and information, just like the ancient cultures did.
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that further evidence of Leonardo's contact with extraterrestrial intelligence can be found by a close examination of one of his most intriguing paintings, The Virgin of the Rocks.
The Virgin of the Rocks is really a showpiece for some of Leonardo's special techniques, including sfumato, which adds this hazy aura.
We see figures emerging from shadows into spot lighting in a way that other artists of his time didn't do.
In March 2018, author and researcher William Henry traveled to the outskirts of London.
There he met with da Vinci expert Lynn Picknett in order to get her thoughts on this unique work of art.
I've just come from the National Gallery and experienced The Virgin of the Rocks.
When you look at it, you're you're drawn into it.
- The colors, the setting - Mmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
-It's almost like it's just coming out of the wall and you're stepping into it.
Yeah, and also, there's a sense of there's something lurking in it that we don't really get, that he's holding back a little.
The Virgin of the Rocks depicts the apocryphal story of an early meeting between the infant Jesus and the infant John the Baptist during the time of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt.
In this painting, apparently what we have is the baby John the Baptist kneeling to Jesus, and the Virgin Mary's got her arm around John the Baptist.
And there's an archangel, who is Uriel.
And, you know, so far, so good, you might think.
Except that the children are with their wrong protectors.
Oh.
I mean, you would expect Jesus - to be with his mother.
- Mm-hmm.
And it so happens that Uriel is traditionally John the Baptist's protector.
Right.
Uriel is has a big backstory with informing Noah about the flood.
-Yes.
Archangel of wisdom.
Yeah, yeah.
Wisdom is Yeah, that's important here.
- A celestial being coming from the heavens.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
In one of the so-called lost chapters of the Hebrew Bible known as the Book of Enoch, the archangel Uriel guides Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, through Heaven, where he is taught all the secrets and mysteries of the universe.
Is it possible that da Vinci knew of this lost and some would say forbidden chapter of the Bible and for this reason deliberately included Uriel as a way of sending a secret message about what he believed to be the extraterrestrial source of his incredible genius? And there is, as you say, something very portal-like about this painting.
-Mm-hmm.
We just dropped a very important word, as well: the word "portal.
" Oh, oh, yes.
-It suggests to me that this painting is a sort of portal that he's taking us into, where something very special is happening here.
-Yes.
Yes.
Maybe that explains why it's such an otherworldly, - almost dreamlike scene.
- Yeah.
The veil between this world and the other world.
In his painting The Virgin of the Rocks, did Leonardo da Vinci deliberately plant clues that were intended for future generations to find? Clues that gave insight into his belief that much of mankind's knowledge had profoundly extraterrestrial origins? Leonardo was equally fascinated with backgrounds as he was with figures in the foreground, and one of the things that's so striking about Virgin of the Rocks is this very craggy, spooky, dramatic cavern that provides the backdrop for the figures.
There are almost no other precedents for this group of figures in this sort of location.
Could it be that Leonardo deliberately staged this scene at the mouth of a cavern in order to draw a link between the painting and his earlier experience in the cave? And by placing Jesus with the archangel Uriel, was he indicating a belief that the archangel was actually an extraterrestrial entity? Da Vinci's inclusion of the archangel Uriel, it makes you wonder if Leonardo may have had an experience with the archangel Uriel, who told him about humanity's future.
Of the only 15 known paintings attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, is it possible that they all contain evidence of the artist's belief in so-called secret or forbidden knowledge? And if so, might they also contain clues that are intended to reveal not only da Vinci's personal beliefs, but a message that he was entrusted to convey to future generations? Milan, Italy.
Housed in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie is one of Leonardo da Vinci's most iconic paintings: The Last Supper.
This imposing mural More than 15 feet tall and nearly 29 feet wide Depicts the biblical moment when Jesus tells his disciples that one of them will betray him.
It's a very poignant moment.
And the disciples are reacting to this statement, many in horror.
To the left is Saint Bartholomew, who seems to have leapt to his feet and hit the table and is leaning towards Jesus in shock.
And third from right of Jesus in the middle is Saint Philip, who seems to cave in with shock.
What's interesting about this Last Supper is it looks like a frozen moment of action.
If you imagine you have a remote control and the scene is on pause and you were to unpause it, all this movement would happen.
But at this frozen moment, you can really study the actions and reactions of the people depicted.
As with Leonardo's other works, many researchers and ancient astronaut theorists believe that this painting contains hidden messages.
When we were writing Templar Revelation, I looked at The Last Supper, and I thought, "But wait a minute, that's a woman, sitting next to Jesus.
" Sitting at the right hand of Jesus is a figure that has long been assumed to represent the apostle John.
But unlike the other figures in the painting, this one appears to have strikingly feminine features.
In his own Treatise on Painting, Leonardo writes that women should always be depicted in art with "their heads looking downwards, and leaning a little on one side.
" If you look at Jesus sitting at the center of the table, leaning like that, to one side, is the woman who, with Jesus, forms a giant "M" shape, presumably, a clue to her name: Mary, Mary Magdalene.
In the Bible's New Testament, Mary Magdalene is identified as a follower of Jesus who witnesses both his crucifixion and his resurrection, but she was not reported to have been a participant in what is called the Last Supper.
If that is true, then why would Leonardo place her in his painting? Did the artist have access to secret knowledge about the true nature of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene? It seems that Leonardo was trying to point to Mary Magdalene having been extremely close to Jesus.
We have them joined at the hip, we have them wearing mirror image clothes.
Jesus, as a 30-year-old Jewish man of the time, would've been very hard-pressed to be without a wife.
So, the theory is that Mary Magdalene was, in fact, his wife.
But the Catholic church didn't want Jesus, as the son of God, to have a wife.
They wanted him to be celibate, to be godlike, and so cast Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, rather than as a woman of importance.
If Leonardo did indeed intend to depict Mary Magdalene as the person sitting next to Jesus, what makes her inclusion even more curious is an element of the story that seems to have been deliberately omitted: Jesus's chalice, otherwise known as the Holy Grail.
In the Bible, it says one of the reasons for the Last Supper was for Jesus to instigate the communion.
His blood, represented by the wine on the table, and his body, which was to be broken on the cross, by the broken bread.
Now, there is no great glass, or indeed, any particular glass of wine in front of Jesus, which, in itself, is an enormous thing.
According to legend, the Holy Grail had magical, life-giving properties.
But there are some who insist that an actual Grail never really existed.
Instead, they believe it was a symbol, intended to represent Jesus's divine bloodline.
Many people suggest that the Holy Grail was the body of Mary Magdalene, when she was pregnant with the child of herself and Jesus.
So this is goddess lore.
The Grail is a womb, and the true mystery, the true, sacred story, is birth.
Human birth is the miracle.
Mary Magdalene, according to a number of traditions, actually was the wife of Jesus.
And she was pregnant with his children.
And in fact, these children will be special, and carrying a special new type of DNA for a new type of person on Earth.
And this is, literally, the Holy Grail.
Did Leonardo da Vinci have special, extraterrestrial knowledge? Knowledge about mankind's origins that he encoded in the form of secret messages within his paintings? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and also suggest that within his painting of The Last Supper is yet another, even more profound code.
One that, when translated, will allow direct communication with our alien ancestors.
Lecce, Italy.
2003.
Based on a close examination of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, musician and scholar Giovanni Maria Pala begins to examine one of the artist's most famous works, The Last Supper, for evidence that da Vinci may have hidden a musical composition in the now-iconic painting.
One of the intriguing theories about Last Supper, that I actually think has some merit, is that a scholar found musical notes.
One of the things to keep in mind is that there's no such thing as an accidental, or "just for the sake of it" insertion in old master paintings.
Each aspect was carefully decided upon.
Leonardo definitely was a musician, and he served the de' Medicis as a lyre player, and as a singer for a number of years.
He played what we would call the organ.
Well, there was an organ in the church where he was painting The Last Supper.
In March 2018, William Henry met up with Giovanni Maria Pala in Florence, to find out more about his incredible theory.
Hi.
I'm William, the translator.
Pleasure to meet you, William.
- William Henry.
Nice to see you.
- Absolutely.
- William Henry.
- I'm Giovanni.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
How did you come to find this evidence that in his one of his famous frescos is a hidden melody? So the first thing that really caught my attention was that this is the, uh, tablecloth of the Holy Mass.
Right.
And there are some vertical lines along here, and also some horizontal lines, which prove to be very important.
And as a musician, the first thing that came to mind seeing these horizontal lines, was a musical pentagram.
Is the musical pentagram what we today would call - a sheet of music? - Yes, that's exactly right.
So how did you bring this melody to life? He says you can see here, the highlighted is these little pieces of bread, Right.
Of which there are many all across the table here.
So he pinpointed the loaves of bread as being the notes.
And another extremely important element that he noted was the lines of the sheet were exactly aligned with the hands of the apostles all across the table.
So the elements that really gave life to this music are the loaves of bread and the hands of the apostles.
Okay.
We have to remember an important fact that Leonardo had this peculiarity of writing from right to left.
So now let's, uh, let's give it a listen.
People have suggested that through meditation, chanting, and through vibration, essentially, that you can access this realm of knowledge.
And this realm of knowledge is timeless.
Not only does the sound have the power to manifest all forms of phenomena, it also has the power to manifest how one perceives that very phenomena.
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, as well Jainism, even religions such as Sikhism, you have specific mantras that are tuned to these deities.
So these mantras are used both to create a rapport, connection with these deities, to summon them, to help you manifest them.
The idea that harmonic sounds or music might be the ideal means of communication with extraterrestrial beings was a key component of NASA's Voyager program in 1977.
Originally designed as a pair of robotic probes which could collect and send back important information about the Earth's sister planets, Voyagers 1 and 2 each carried a large golden disc onto which various images and sounds were recorded.
The disc and its contents were the brainchild of famed astronomer Carl Sagan, who worked closely with space artist and science journalist John Lomberg.
I felt that art, visual arts and music might be as legitimate a content of interstellar communication as math and physics, which he thought interesting.
If they were to ask me what to send to establish communication, I'd send them music.
The mathematical relationships that underlie most aesthetics, and whether you're talking about intervals in music, like harmony, or whether you're talking about proportion in architecture or painting, these things are not things that we just conjure up out of our own minds.
They're a reflection of the beautiful fractal nature of the universe.
Did you ever see the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Uh, si.
The spaceship lands at the Devils Tower, and it starts playing tones, the language of the universe, and it loops infinitely.
The melody begins with an E.
And it ends with an E as well.
And it can be repeated, um, pretty much infinitely.
If Leonardo da Vinci really did encode musical notes within his painting of the Last Supper, what was his purpose? Was he trying to convey an important message to humanity from another world? Or was he trying to teach humanity the means by which it can communicate with its extraterrestrial ancestors? It is here, in what some would call an unlikely setting, that the world's most expensive work of art, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, will reside.
Established in November 2017, this architectural marvel consists of a floating dome created from a complex geometric design of 7,800 interlocking stars that cast beams of light into the space below.
Its appearance has been likened to that of a giant flying saucer, and the museum's architect, Jean Nouvel, says his goal was to emphasize the fascination generated by rare encounters.
The museum looks like this giant disc with thousands of stars.
Are they trying to signal something, or is it purely an architectural choice? But why is this futuristic museum considered by many ancient astronaut enthusiasts to be the most appropriate setting for what others would consider a traditional depiction of Jesus Christ? And what is it about this 518-year-old Renaissance painting that compelled its owner to pay such a record price? $400 million is the bid.
And the piece is sold! I'm looking forward to seeing what we've got inside.
During his meeting with art historian Dr.
Michael Kwakkelstein at the Dutch University Institute for Art History in March 2017, ancient astronaut theorist and author William Henry - Ah, there we go.
- Decided to share his thoughts concerning da Vinci's recently discovered masterpiece.
He's got that lion-like gaze, just very powerful, staring directly at us.
-Mesmerizing.
Mona Lisa smile, slightly.
But it's this crystal sphere that draws people in.
This, in fact, is the Cintamani Stone, the wish-fulfilling gem of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Cintamani Stone? A legendary relic that appears in many examples of Buddhist art? But why would Leonardo da Vinci depict Jesus Christ holding an orb that features a Buddhist symbol? Gemani means "jewel," and chinta, in this case, is referring to "wishes.
" It's the jewel that grants wishes.
If you look at deities like Ksitigarbha, he actually is holding it in his hand, and it looks like a little orb.
And he can travel through all the six realms where various beings dwell.
In Buddhist scripture, the Cintamani Stone is often described as a wish-fulfilling crystal sphere and is most often seen in the possession of a Bodhisattva, or enlightened teacher.
Much like Jesus holding the orb in the Salvator Mundi painting, the Bodhisattva is usually depicted holding the Cintamani Stone in the palm of his hand.
But how would a 15th century Renaissance artist A Roman Catholic Have known about a 10th-century Buddhist symbol? And why would he have included it in an otherwise traditional religious painting? For William Henry, a key to the answer may be found by noting the presence of three simple white dots, or stars, floating inside the transparent orb.
We have those triple dots on that sphere that symbolize the three stars of Orion, indicating that there's this cosmic connection that they're trying to make.
Orion? The constellation that the ancient Egyptians believed was the place of origin for the gods? And whose three most prominent stars, which form what is referred to as Orion's Belt, are oriented in precise alignment with not only the great pyramids of Egypt, but also Teotihuacan in Mexico? The ancient Egyptians believed that their gods, Osiris in particular, came from Orion.
And that upon his resurrection from the Earth, Osiris returned to Orion.
Is it possible that what this painting is showing is that Jesus himself is somehow from the constellation Orion, and that that is ultimately where we, as a human species, are from? We have this very powerful connection between the resurrection of Osiris, going to Orion, and Christ ultimately returning from Orion.
When we look at Christ holding this crystalline orb, it's trying to tell us that there's a a higher intelligence that operates in our world.
He tapped into it.
But ultimately he's saying, there's a cosmic intelligence interwoven within human history.
Is it possible that Leonardo da Vinci was in possession of extraterrestrial knowledge? Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answers can be found by examining the artist's final and perhaps most prophetic work of art, one which many believe hides a startling portrait.
Amboise, France.
1513.
At Château du Clos Lucé, a 61-year-old Leonardo da Vinci begins work on what will be his final painting.
Three years later, he completes his portrait of an androgynous figure emerging from a shadowy background Saint John the Baptist.
Picture this painting in a dimly lit chapel.
Before lighting the candle, you don't see anything.
- Right.
- You light the candle, and the light of the flame illuminates the painting, and there emerges, against a dark background, Saint John the Baptist.
And the pointing upward to heaven, saying: I'm from the light, I'm witnessing to the light.
He's pointing to another realm.
Oh, yes.
This is where divine wisdom comes from.
This is the source of everything.
The first words of Saint John are, "I saw the light.
- I will come to this Earth.
" - Wow.
Leonardo was encoding extraordinary secrets in his paintings.
He wanted to imbue his work for the future generations with his own private message.
His paintings are like portals to another world, where the real Leonardo inhabits.
But whether we're big enough to accept what he has to say is quite another matter.
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.
And we have to look for it.
Is he talking about extraterrestrials? Is he talking about the future? Investigators have recently found some pretty astonishing things about Leonardo da Vinci's painting John the Baptist.
And they mirror the image to create a double image, and then through an enhancement process, they are able to bring out what seems to be the face of an extraterrestrial.
It's a pretty unusual thing, and we know that da Vinci did use this mirroring technique.
And so this isn't something that is so farfetched that he would do.
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 through which ordinary people can connect with higher-dimensional beings, even extraterrestrials.
And I think this is the ultimate message that Leonardo placed in the codes and the symbols within his paintings.
Did Leonardo da Vinci experience an extraterrestrial encounter, one that opened his mind to what was once considered forbidden knowledge? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and believe that da Vinci encoded his works in such a way that future generations could learn the truth about mankind's origins.
And that, when fully understood, will lead the way to our ultimate destiny.
Leonardo produced some of the world's most recognizable paintings The Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Lady with an Ermine.
He was a genius whose inventions were centuries ahead of their time.
He drew construction plans for tanks, for helicopters, all sorts of wild things that came into reality during our lifetime, right now.
But there are those who believe that Leonardo da Vinci was inspired by an extraterrestrial intelligence, that his paintings are embedded with secret knowledge and contain codes which, when deciphered, will provide the keys to unlocking the universe.
I think da Vinci is trying to tell us that there's a higher intelligence that operates in our world.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, we move to the Leonardo da Vinci, the Salvator Mundi, the masterpiece by Leonardo of Christ the Savior, previously in the collections of three kings of England.
New York City.
November 15, 2017.
$370 million.
Back to Francoise's clients at $370 million dollars, ladies and gentlemen.
$400 million! At a Christie's auction at Rockefeller Center, Leonardo da Vinci's newly authenticated painting Salvator Mundi sells for a record-breaking $400 million.
- Sold.
- The buyer is a Saudi prince, representing the new Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi.
But why was a member of the Saudi royal family Or anyone so willing to pay such an incredible price for a work of art? Leonardo da Vinci has captured the fascination of so many people.
I really believe he was way ahead of his time.
But if Leonardo were alive today and realized how much his paintings would go for, he'd go crazy.
It's a lot of money for a painting.
You ask yourself if there's another possibility.
There are those who believe that the Salvator Mundi is much more than a priceless piece of Renaissance art.
They believe, when considered in context with other examples of da Vinci's paintings, that it contains a piece of a giant puzzle, one that, when put together, could reveal the secrets of the universe.
April 15, 1452.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, the illegitimate child of a nobleman and his maid, is born in Vinci, Italy.
If you were not entitled to take your father's name, your last name just became the town you came from.
This probably aided his development.
The fact that he didn't belong also meant that he wasn't caught up in the official version of reality.
He was free enough to have his own ideas.
When he was a teenager, Leonardo settled in nearby Florence.
At that time, the city was a cultural mecca, the beating heart of a classical revival known as the Renaissance.
The Renaissance is a resurgence of new ideas and approaches and interests in not only antiquity but in the reinterpretation of the human condition.
It reinvents, really, the culture of the time.
Leonardo received an informal education in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio, but was also largely self-taught.
Despite this Or perhaps because of it He excelled at a staggering range of disciplines.
Da Vinci was way ahead of his time during the period in which he lived.
He drew construction plans for tanks for helicopters, all sorts of wild things that came into reality during our lifetime, right now.
In March 2018, author and ancient astronaut theorist William Henry traveled to Florence to learn more about the Renaissance master.
He was also eager to find out, firsthand, if there was any truth to the theory that da Vinci hid secret messages in his paintings.
At the Piazzale Michelangelo, overlooking the city, Henry met with Dr.
Michael Kwakkelstein, who has made it his life's work to discover everything there is to know about Leonardo da Vinci.
I'm so excited to be here in Florence, home of Leonardo.
Yeah, you look around, you start to see that these are what you see in Leonardo's paintings.
Absolutely.
He took his inspiration just from those hills, those trees.
500 years ago, Florence was, of course, a much smaller city.
- Right.
- So just crossing the Arno over there, you see the Ponte Vecchio, Yes.
-Leonardo would find himself amidst nature to study the fall of water or the movement of water, - to study birds.
- Leonardo created just a prodigious volume of an explosion, really, of creativity.
What do we have left of his legacy? Do we have a lot? A little? Well, we have a dozen paintings.
Some of these paintings are unfinished.
Some of these paintings are in a bad state.
Uh, but we have his notebooks, his manuscripts It's like a map - of his mind, all these writings.
- Wow.
You've personally been able to explore those notebooks - and spent your life - I'm still working on it.
It's a life work.
But while Leonardo's genius was highly regarded in his lifetime, he was also highly scrutinized by the Roman Catholic Church, which remained a powerful political force throughout Italy and much of the world.
During the Renaissance, there was a rediscovery of ancient classical documents that were stored in monasteries after the dissolution of the Roman Empire.
Because of these new discoveries, new ideas were circulating, ideas from great minds like Plato, Aristotle and Galen from the ancient world.
But these great ideas often did not combine well with Christianity, and Leonardo is someone who represents a point of conflict.
It is this ancient knowledge that has led many scholars and ancient astronaut theorists to suggest that da Vinci, while Christian, was also open to a wide range of spiritual philosophies.
Philosophies which, if revealed, would have placed him in opposition to the strict teachings of the Catholic Church, and would have caused him to be publicly shunned as a heretic.
It's almost certain that Leonardo had access to secret knowledge.
Leonardo was actually not, as a lot of people think today, some kind of atheist.
Leonardo was a heretic.
He passionately believed in something that was outside of the mainstream religion, and therefore very dangerous.
Florence, Italy.
2002.
Using infrared diagnostic techniques, Dr.
Maurizio Seracini uncovers the underdrawing, or preliminary sketch, done by Leonardo da Vinci for his unfinished painting Adoration of the Magi.
Commissioned in 1481, the work depicts the biblical story of the three wise men visiting the infant Jesus in Bethlehem.
But by viewing the painting with this new technology, it becomes apparent that Leonardo's original sketch actually included many more details than those that could be seen with just the naked eye.
The first time I aimed the camera, the infrared camera, to the, uh, to the Adoration, uh I felt very privileged.
Because for the first time in 500 years, I managed to see probably the best creativity effort of Leonardo on a work of art.
And science can help you to go back, like if you were in a time machine, and I saw dozens of figures Fighting horses, uh nature, architecture.
And now my eyes alone could not see them, because they were covered by a brownish monochrome layer of paint that later I understood was not applied by Leonardo.
In the background of the top left, you could see a couple of people sitting in despair on stairs of a temple in ruins.
Well, aiming the camera at the scene, then suddenly a completely different view came out.
The detail that was painted over was a scene of a pagan temple that was rising up through the ruins of a Christian church.
And this was considered problematic during the Renaissance period with Christianity as the one and only true religion.
Upon close examination of da Vinci's original sketch, instead of a temple in ruins, the artist seemed to be depicting a scenario in which an Egyptian temple is being rebuilt.
Most notable is the fact that one of the temple columns is capped by a lotus flower, which in ancient Egypt represented the so-called, "Flower of Life.
" The Flower of Life is the information behind how the universe was created.
Everything in the universe is geometric.
Sacred geometry implies that there is intelligence behind it.
It's believed by mystics to be a symbol of advanced super consciousness, a way of plugging into the knowledge possessed by extraterrestrial beings.
Da Vinci, we can fairly say, was practically obsessed with it.
And one wonders if da Vinci actually tapped into the ultimate cosmic secrets represented by the Flower of Life.
Cosmic secrets? Sacred geometry? Was Leonardo da Vinci encoding his paintings with forbidden knowledge? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes.
And they believe that knowledge may have been given to him after direct contact with extraterrestrial beings.
Recognized as a genius even in his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci has one of the most thoroughly recorded lives of all the Renaissance artists.
Da Vinci was such a popular figure that his life was documented in great detail.
However, what's interesting is that there are two years missing from his existence.
He basically disappeared off of the face of the earth.
From 1476 to 1478, Leonardo da Vinci's activities completely disappear from the historical record.
The gap occurs when the artist was between 24 to 26 years old, just at the point when he was beginning to come into prominence.
So what could account for these missing years? Ancient astronaut theorists point to a strange experience the artist had while hiking near a cave.
It is one of the very few autobiographical anecdotes da Vinci ever made in his personal journal.
He came across this cave.
And as he stood in front of it, all of a sudden he felt drawn to go inside in order to find out about the miracle or the wonderment that's inside.
We don't know what happened inside this cave, but it's quite possible that Leonardo da Vinci actually encountered extraterrestrial teachers who then gave him certain information.
And it's this knowledge, perhaps, that made Leonardo da Vinci the incredible genius that he was.
I'm not sure Leonardo da Vinci went to another world, but I have a feeling that this guy, somehow, through dreaming or going through some kind of dimension, was able to see the future, our future.
Those we call geniuses, such as Leonardo da Vinci, are able to discern and detect these codes that are coming to them from these higher levels of reality and utilize them in their work, in their art, in their inventions to improve this physical world that we live in.
Unlike other artists, Leonardo da Vinci did not have to measure the ratios and the proportion.
It just came to him spontaneously.
He was tapping into something that allowed him to bring down knowledge and information, just like the ancient cultures did.
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that further evidence of Leonardo's contact with extraterrestrial intelligence can be found by a close examination of one of his most intriguing paintings, The Virgin of the Rocks.
The Virgin of the Rocks is really a showpiece for some of Leonardo's special techniques, including sfumato, which adds this hazy aura.
We see figures emerging from shadows into spot lighting in a way that other artists of his time didn't do.
In March 2018, author and researcher William Henry traveled to the outskirts of London.
There he met with da Vinci expert Lynn Picknett in order to get her thoughts on this unique work of art.
I've just come from the National Gallery and experienced The Virgin of the Rocks.
When you look at it, you're you're drawn into it.
- The colors, the setting - Mmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
-It's almost like it's just coming out of the wall and you're stepping into it.
Yeah, and also, there's a sense of there's something lurking in it that we don't really get, that he's holding back a little.
The Virgin of the Rocks depicts the apocryphal story of an early meeting between the infant Jesus and the infant John the Baptist during the time of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt.
In this painting, apparently what we have is the baby John the Baptist kneeling to Jesus, and the Virgin Mary's got her arm around John the Baptist.
And there's an archangel, who is Uriel.
And, you know, so far, so good, you might think.
Except that the children are with their wrong protectors.
Oh.
I mean, you would expect Jesus - to be with his mother.
- Mm-hmm.
And it so happens that Uriel is traditionally John the Baptist's protector.
Right.
Uriel is has a big backstory with informing Noah about the flood.
-Yes.
Archangel of wisdom.
Yeah, yeah.
Wisdom is Yeah, that's important here.
- A celestial being coming from the heavens.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
In one of the so-called lost chapters of the Hebrew Bible known as the Book of Enoch, the archangel Uriel guides Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, through Heaven, where he is taught all the secrets and mysteries of the universe.
Is it possible that da Vinci knew of this lost and some would say forbidden chapter of the Bible and for this reason deliberately included Uriel as a way of sending a secret message about what he believed to be the extraterrestrial source of his incredible genius? And there is, as you say, something very portal-like about this painting.
-Mm-hmm.
We just dropped a very important word, as well: the word "portal.
" Oh, oh, yes.
-It suggests to me that this painting is a sort of portal that he's taking us into, where something very special is happening here.
-Yes.
Yes.
Maybe that explains why it's such an otherworldly, - almost dreamlike scene.
- Yeah.
The veil between this world and the other world.
In his painting The Virgin of the Rocks, did Leonardo da Vinci deliberately plant clues that were intended for future generations to find? Clues that gave insight into his belief that much of mankind's knowledge had profoundly extraterrestrial origins? Leonardo was equally fascinated with backgrounds as he was with figures in the foreground, and one of the things that's so striking about Virgin of the Rocks is this very craggy, spooky, dramatic cavern that provides the backdrop for the figures.
There are almost no other precedents for this group of figures in this sort of location.
Could it be that Leonardo deliberately staged this scene at the mouth of a cavern in order to draw a link between the painting and his earlier experience in the cave? And by placing Jesus with the archangel Uriel, was he indicating a belief that the archangel was actually an extraterrestrial entity? Da Vinci's inclusion of the archangel Uriel, it makes you wonder if Leonardo may have had an experience with the archangel Uriel, who told him about humanity's future.
Of the only 15 known paintings attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, is it possible that they all contain evidence of the artist's belief in so-called secret or forbidden knowledge? And if so, might they also contain clues that are intended to reveal not only da Vinci's personal beliefs, but a message that he was entrusted to convey to future generations? Milan, Italy.
Housed in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie is one of Leonardo da Vinci's most iconic paintings: The Last Supper.
This imposing mural More than 15 feet tall and nearly 29 feet wide Depicts the biblical moment when Jesus tells his disciples that one of them will betray him.
It's a very poignant moment.
And the disciples are reacting to this statement, many in horror.
To the left is Saint Bartholomew, who seems to have leapt to his feet and hit the table and is leaning towards Jesus in shock.
And third from right of Jesus in the middle is Saint Philip, who seems to cave in with shock.
What's interesting about this Last Supper is it looks like a frozen moment of action.
If you imagine you have a remote control and the scene is on pause and you were to unpause it, all this movement would happen.
But at this frozen moment, you can really study the actions and reactions of the people depicted.
As with Leonardo's other works, many researchers and ancient astronaut theorists believe that this painting contains hidden messages.
When we were writing Templar Revelation, I looked at The Last Supper, and I thought, "But wait a minute, that's a woman, sitting next to Jesus.
" Sitting at the right hand of Jesus is a figure that has long been assumed to represent the apostle John.
But unlike the other figures in the painting, this one appears to have strikingly feminine features.
In his own Treatise on Painting, Leonardo writes that women should always be depicted in art with "their heads looking downwards, and leaning a little on one side.
" If you look at Jesus sitting at the center of the table, leaning like that, to one side, is the woman who, with Jesus, forms a giant "M" shape, presumably, a clue to her name: Mary, Mary Magdalene.
In the Bible's New Testament, Mary Magdalene is identified as a follower of Jesus who witnesses both his crucifixion and his resurrection, but she was not reported to have been a participant in what is called the Last Supper.
If that is true, then why would Leonardo place her in his painting? Did the artist have access to secret knowledge about the true nature of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene? It seems that Leonardo was trying to point to Mary Magdalene having been extremely close to Jesus.
We have them joined at the hip, we have them wearing mirror image clothes.
Jesus, as a 30-year-old Jewish man of the time, would've been very hard-pressed to be without a wife.
So, the theory is that Mary Magdalene was, in fact, his wife.
But the Catholic church didn't want Jesus, as the son of God, to have a wife.
They wanted him to be celibate, to be godlike, and so cast Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, rather than as a woman of importance.
If Leonardo did indeed intend to depict Mary Magdalene as the person sitting next to Jesus, what makes her inclusion even more curious is an element of the story that seems to have been deliberately omitted: Jesus's chalice, otherwise known as the Holy Grail.
In the Bible, it says one of the reasons for the Last Supper was for Jesus to instigate the communion.
His blood, represented by the wine on the table, and his body, which was to be broken on the cross, by the broken bread.
Now, there is no great glass, or indeed, any particular glass of wine in front of Jesus, which, in itself, is an enormous thing.
According to legend, the Holy Grail had magical, life-giving properties.
But there are some who insist that an actual Grail never really existed.
Instead, they believe it was a symbol, intended to represent Jesus's divine bloodline.
Many people suggest that the Holy Grail was the body of Mary Magdalene, when she was pregnant with the child of herself and Jesus.
So this is goddess lore.
The Grail is a womb, and the true mystery, the true, sacred story, is birth.
Human birth is the miracle.
Mary Magdalene, according to a number of traditions, actually was the wife of Jesus.
And she was pregnant with his children.
And in fact, these children will be special, and carrying a special new type of DNA for a new type of person on Earth.
And this is, literally, the Holy Grail.
Did Leonardo da Vinci have special, extraterrestrial knowledge? Knowledge about mankind's origins that he encoded in the form of secret messages within his paintings? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and also suggest that within his painting of The Last Supper is yet another, even more profound code.
One that, when translated, will allow direct communication with our alien ancestors.
Lecce, Italy.
2003.
Based on a close examination of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, musician and scholar Giovanni Maria Pala begins to examine one of the artist's most famous works, The Last Supper, for evidence that da Vinci may have hidden a musical composition in the now-iconic painting.
One of the intriguing theories about Last Supper, that I actually think has some merit, is that a scholar found musical notes.
One of the things to keep in mind is that there's no such thing as an accidental, or "just for the sake of it" insertion in old master paintings.
Each aspect was carefully decided upon.
Leonardo definitely was a musician, and he served the de' Medicis as a lyre player, and as a singer for a number of years.
He played what we would call the organ.
Well, there was an organ in the church where he was painting The Last Supper.
In March 2018, William Henry met up with Giovanni Maria Pala in Florence, to find out more about his incredible theory.
Hi.
I'm William, the translator.
Pleasure to meet you, William.
- William Henry.
Nice to see you.
- Absolutely.
- William Henry.
- I'm Giovanni.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
How did you come to find this evidence that in his one of his famous frescos is a hidden melody? So the first thing that really caught my attention was that this is the, uh, tablecloth of the Holy Mass.
Right.
And there are some vertical lines along here, and also some horizontal lines, which prove to be very important.
And as a musician, the first thing that came to mind seeing these horizontal lines, was a musical pentagram.
Is the musical pentagram what we today would call - a sheet of music? - Yes, that's exactly right.
So how did you bring this melody to life? He says you can see here, the highlighted is these little pieces of bread, Right.
Of which there are many all across the table here.
So he pinpointed the loaves of bread as being the notes.
And another extremely important element that he noted was the lines of the sheet were exactly aligned with the hands of the apostles all across the table.
So the elements that really gave life to this music are the loaves of bread and the hands of the apostles.
Okay.
We have to remember an important fact that Leonardo had this peculiarity of writing from right to left.
So now let's, uh, let's give it a listen.
People have suggested that through meditation, chanting, and through vibration, essentially, that you can access this realm of knowledge.
And this realm of knowledge is timeless.
Not only does the sound have the power to manifest all forms of phenomena, it also has the power to manifest how one perceives that very phenomena.
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, as well Jainism, even religions such as Sikhism, you have specific mantras that are tuned to these deities.
So these mantras are used both to create a rapport, connection with these deities, to summon them, to help you manifest them.
The idea that harmonic sounds or music might be the ideal means of communication with extraterrestrial beings was a key component of NASA's Voyager program in 1977.
Originally designed as a pair of robotic probes which could collect and send back important information about the Earth's sister planets, Voyagers 1 and 2 each carried a large golden disc onto which various images and sounds were recorded.
The disc and its contents were the brainchild of famed astronomer Carl Sagan, who worked closely with space artist and science journalist John Lomberg.
I felt that art, visual arts and music might be as legitimate a content of interstellar communication as math and physics, which he thought interesting.
If they were to ask me what to send to establish communication, I'd send them music.
The mathematical relationships that underlie most aesthetics, and whether you're talking about intervals in music, like harmony, or whether you're talking about proportion in architecture or painting, these things are not things that we just conjure up out of our own minds.
They're a reflection of the beautiful fractal nature of the universe.
Did you ever see the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Uh, si.
The spaceship lands at the Devils Tower, and it starts playing tones, the language of the universe, and it loops infinitely.
The melody begins with an E.
And it ends with an E as well.
And it can be repeated, um, pretty much infinitely.
If Leonardo da Vinci really did encode musical notes within his painting of the Last Supper, what was his purpose? Was he trying to convey an important message to humanity from another world? Or was he trying to teach humanity the means by which it can communicate with its extraterrestrial ancestors? It is here, in what some would call an unlikely setting, that the world's most expensive work of art, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, will reside.
Established in November 2017, this architectural marvel consists of a floating dome created from a complex geometric design of 7,800 interlocking stars that cast beams of light into the space below.
Its appearance has been likened to that of a giant flying saucer, and the museum's architect, Jean Nouvel, says his goal was to emphasize the fascination generated by rare encounters.
The museum looks like this giant disc with thousands of stars.
Are they trying to signal something, or is it purely an architectural choice? But why is this futuristic museum considered by many ancient astronaut enthusiasts to be the most appropriate setting for what others would consider a traditional depiction of Jesus Christ? And what is it about this 518-year-old Renaissance painting that compelled its owner to pay such a record price? $400 million is the bid.
And the piece is sold! I'm looking forward to seeing what we've got inside.
During his meeting with art historian Dr.
Michael Kwakkelstein at the Dutch University Institute for Art History in March 2017, ancient astronaut theorist and author William Henry - Ah, there we go.
- Decided to share his thoughts concerning da Vinci's recently discovered masterpiece.
He's got that lion-like gaze, just very powerful, staring directly at us.
-Mesmerizing.
Mona Lisa smile, slightly.
But it's this crystal sphere that draws people in.
This, in fact, is the Cintamani Stone, the wish-fulfilling gem of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Cintamani Stone? A legendary relic that appears in many examples of Buddhist art? But why would Leonardo da Vinci depict Jesus Christ holding an orb that features a Buddhist symbol? Gemani means "jewel," and chinta, in this case, is referring to "wishes.
" It's the jewel that grants wishes.
If you look at deities like Ksitigarbha, he actually is holding it in his hand, and it looks like a little orb.
And he can travel through all the six realms where various beings dwell.
In Buddhist scripture, the Cintamani Stone is often described as a wish-fulfilling crystal sphere and is most often seen in the possession of a Bodhisattva, or enlightened teacher.
Much like Jesus holding the orb in the Salvator Mundi painting, the Bodhisattva is usually depicted holding the Cintamani Stone in the palm of his hand.
But how would a 15th century Renaissance artist A Roman Catholic Have known about a 10th-century Buddhist symbol? And why would he have included it in an otherwise traditional religious painting? For William Henry, a key to the answer may be found by noting the presence of three simple white dots, or stars, floating inside the transparent orb.
We have those triple dots on that sphere that symbolize the three stars of Orion, indicating that there's this cosmic connection that they're trying to make.
Orion? The constellation that the ancient Egyptians believed was the place of origin for the gods? And whose three most prominent stars, which form what is referred to as Orion's Belt, are oriented in precise alignment with not only the great pyramids of Egypt, but also Teotihuacan in Mexico? The ancient Egyptians believed that their gods, Osiris in particular, came from Orion.
And that upon his resurrection from the Earth, Osiris returned to Orion.
Is it possible that what this painting is showing is that Jesus himself is somehow from the constellation Orion, and that that is ultimately where we, as a human species, are from? We have this very powerful connection between the resurrection of Osiris, going to Orion, and Christ ultimately returning from Orion.
When we look at Christ holding this crystalline orb, it's trying to tell us that there's a a higher intelligence that operates in our world.
He tapped into it.
But ultimately he's saying, there's a cosmic intelligence interwoven within human history.
Is it possible that Leonardo da Vinci was in possession of extraterrestrial knowledge? Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answers can be found by examining the artist's final and perhaps most prophetic work of art, one which many believe hides a startling portrait.
Amboise, France.
1513.
At Château du Clos Lucé, a 61-year-old Leonardo da Vinci begins work on what will be his final painting.
Three years later, he completes his portrait of an androgynous figure emerging from a shadowy background Saint John the Baptist.
Picture this painting in a dimly lit chapel.
Before lighting the candle, you don't see anything.
- Right.
- You light the candle, and the light of the flame illuminates the painting, and there emerges, against a dark background, Saint John the Baptist.
And the pointing upward to heaven, saying: I'm from the light, I'm witnessing to the light.
He's pointing to another realm.
Oh, yes.
This is where divine wisdom comes from.
This is the source of everything.
The first words of Saint John are, "I saw the light.
- I will come to this Earth.
" - Wow.
Leonardo was encoding extraordinary secrets in his paintings.
He wanted to imbue his work for the future generations with his own private message.
His paintings are like portals to another world, where the real Leonardo inhabits.
But whether we're big enough to accept what he has to say is quite another matter.
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.
And we have to look for it.
Is he talking about extraterrestrials? Is he talking about the future? Investigators have recently found some pretty astonishing things about Leonardo da Vinci's painting John the Baptist.
And they mirror the image to create a double image, and then through an enhancement process, they are able to bring out what seems to be the face of an extraterrestrial.
It's a pretty unusual thing, and we know that da Vinci did use this mirroring technique.
And so this isn't something that is so farfetched that he would do.
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 through which ordinary people can connect with higher-dimensional beings, even extraterrestrials.
And I think this is the ultimate message that Leonardo placed in the codes and the symbols within his paintings.
Did Leonardo da Vinci experience an extraterrestrial encounter, one that opened his mind to what was once considered forbidden knowledge? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and believe that da Vinci encoded his works in such a way that future generations could learn the truth about mankind's origins.
And that, when fully understood, will lead the way to our ultimate destiny.