No need to fly to Paris to see Leonardo da Vinci’s original: the Mona Lisa exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum is an immersive journey through time

If you follow art exhibitions around the world, you’ve probably noticed that “immersive experiences” have become hugely popular. Jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the French May Arts Festival, this exhibition was co-produced by France’s Musée du Louvre and Paris’ Grand Palais Immersif. Divided into two main sections, it brings together leading academic and creative directors and features new interactive installations created especially for the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, making it easy even for women who usually find classical art distant to step into Leonardo da Vinci’s creative world.

Mona Lisa becomes your guide through 500 years

The first main section, “Meet Mona Lisa,” will change the way you think about a traditional painting exhibition. Divided into six chapters, it spans more than 500 years of history. Most unusually, Mona Lisa herself serves as your guide, taking us through the painting’s many twists and turns. It began as an ordinary commissioned portrait. Leonardo da Vinci spent his life revising it and ultimately never delivered it to the original client; instead, it became the world’s best-known cultural icon. Over the past 500 years, the painting has been stolen and recovered, and has been paid tribute to and parodied by artists from different eras. Large-scale digital projections and interactive installations let you see the secrets in every brushstroke, including how Leonardo’s pioneering sfumato technique gave the figure such soft contours. It’s far clearer than viewing it through thick bulletproof glass at the Louvre.

Original Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts

If the first section uses technology to explore history, the second, “Portraying the Renaissance,” brings history right before your eyes. The Renaissance was a great era of creativity and humanism. For this exhibition, the museum has borrowed many Renaissance art treasures from leading museums in France and Italy. The most anticipated highlights are the 4 exceptionally precious original Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts. Da Vinci’s manuscripts are highly protected around the world, making this a rare opportunity to see traces of the master’s thoughts and creative process firsthand. Alongside the manuscripts are paintings that reflect the society of the time, fine prints, sculptures, and a range of everyday objects. The curatorial team has also included works by mainland Chinese artist Xu Lei in dialogue with Renaissance artistic styles. This encounter across time between contemporary Eastern art and the classical beauty of 14th-century Europe is especially interesting, showing how art can cross geographical boundaries and influence later creations.

Opening hours and ticket details

Exhibition venue Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 1/F, Thematic Galleries 3, 4 and 5

Dates May 1 to July 27, 2026

If you’ve grown tired of spending weekends at cafes, or shopping no longer feels fresh, an exhibition makes a great date option. This Mona Lisa exhibition is not only photogenic; it also has plenty of historical stories worth taking the time to appreciate. It brings the distant culture of 14th-century Europe before us in a very approachable way, drawing you into that creative era almost without realizing it. For anyone who enjoys immersive art visuals or wants to see Leonardo da Vinci’s original manuscripts firsthand, this exhibition is absolutely worth the price of admission.

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