DaVinci in Cangzhou

After our trip to Xi’an, we are having a quieter week in our apartment in Cangzhou. We fill this time with family visits, handling bank and household matters, periods of relaxation, and above all, shopping for clothes and shoes. We no longer buy these things in Germany but in affordable China. Additionally, the variety of modern lightweight materials available for clothing is much greater. I have, however, chosen to visit a museum in Cangzhou. The Heritage Museum, see the description on my website: Kaiserkanal Museum, has announced a DaVinci exhibition. So, we head to the north of Cangzhou and go to the museum. Mr. DaVinci, or rather the staff member of the special exhibition, is currently on their lunch break, so we first explore the newly designed museum areas. Multimedia content has been added. In one area, a 3D experience with VR glasses about dinosaurs and optionally pandas has been set up. It’s absolutely amusing to see how children carefully look around with their 3D glasses and cautiously walk along paths, even though it just appears as an empty space to outsiders. We spectators are likely more entertained than the children with their virtual dinosaurs. On the 3rd floor, which we did not visit during our last trip due to time constraints, see also my travel blog post Grand Canal Kultur, we now enter a video projection room where a video show showcasing the cultural elements of the Cangzhou region is displayed on all walls and the floor: Videoprojektion. We also visit a jade exhibition on the 2nd floor. Back on the 1st floor, DaVinci is still having lunch. He must be very hungry. Speaking of which, we’re getting hungry too and buy Jianbing Guozi (煎饼果子) from a street stall in front of the museum, which is a rolled pancake with a crispy fritter inside. Even after finishing our meal and returning to the museum, the DaVinci special exhibition is still closed. We wait a little longer and finally, an employee comes and removes the barrier tape. The exhibition, see also my post on the Taibang blog: Cangzhou Meets DaVinci, is quite small. The life and work of DaVinci are explained in Chinese and are also accessible via QR code, allowing me to read the German translation on my smartphone. Paintings by DaVinci are displayed in a mirrored hall, with a few of his technical constructions set up as models. I also watch an artistic film and immerse myself in his war machines using a VR headset, which truly provides a better impression of his inventions. However, his recreated living room is very sparsely furnished, and the video show about his paintings is rather boring. After half an hour, I am finished with the exhibition. I was the only visitor. It was not worth it for me, as I know DaVinci's achievements and have already visited a much larger exhibition about his inventions in Singapore. But for locals, the exhibition is certainly interesting if they have not yet encountered DaVinci. Nevertheless, the organizer, the Italian Leonardo da Vinci Museum, should have equipped the exhibition with more inventions and models and not focus so much on the gimmickry of the meaningless video presentations. But ultimately, that is a matter of personal taste.