Was Leonardo da Vinci, "poet, musician, philosopher, engineer, architect, scientist, mathematician, anatomist, inventor, architect and botanist," the true Renaissance man, or was he just a "frustrating dilettante?" Curators of the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise, France, da Vinci's last home, are betting on the former and hope for the success of their "world's first "intellectual and cultural theme park."

Owners of the house hope to encourage visitors to learn more about da Vinci's life and achievements. "Leonardo was, as well as everything else, a kind of George Lucas of the early 16th century," said François Saint Bris, director of the Château du Clos Lucé and Parc Leonardo da Vinci. "His special effects were legendary, especially the mechanical lion that he created for King François I. We have used contemporary descriptions to commission a celebrated clock-maker in Venice to make the lion come alive again this summer."