Here's a quick note following on from my post a couple of weeks ago about the Book of Secrets, a mysterious eleventh-century Arabic manuscript containing descriptions and drawings of more than 30 ingenious devices, including water clocks, automatic calendars and war machines. Researchers at an Italian company called Leonardo3 have spent months deciphering it and creating a virtual interactive version of the book, and the results of their work are on display at the new Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar.
I didn't have any pictures of the Book of Secrets at the time, but Massimiliano Lisa, one of the curators at Leonardo3, just emailed me to say that there's now a lot more information available, plus videos and photos of the exhibition, here. The researchers have built two of the devices described in the book, the Clock with Three Characters and the Fortress Demolisher. Many others have been reconstructed virtually, including an automated model that acts out a love fairytale involving some evil snakes!
The designs are beautiful - many of them works of art in their own right. For those of us who can't make it to Qatar, you can buy a copy of the manuscript along with a book and interactive DVD. I know what's going on my Christmas list :-)