For more news & videos visit ☛http://english.ntdtv.com<br /><br />Authorities in the western French town of Nantes proudly unveil a rare manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci. It has been lying in a pile of documents given to the city's library 130 years ago.<br /><br />City officials in the French town of Nantes unveiled a manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci on Monday.<br /><br />The manuscript had lain undiscovered in a pile of documents for more than 130 years.<br /><br />Not much more than a fragment of paper with brown scrawls, the piece was presented to the media.<br /><br />Head of Nantes Library Agnes Marcetteau said the item was written back to front, so it is best read by using a mirror.<br /><br />[Agnes Marcetteau, Head of Nantes Library]:<br />"He was most probably writing in Italian from the 15th century and possibly in other languages. So it's now got to be deciphered."<br /><br />The manuscript was among some 5000 documents that were left to the city in 1872 by Pierre-Antoine Labouchere. He was a rich collector of the time.<br /><br />This is the second time that a rare item has been found in Labouchere's papers. In 2008 researchers chanced on an original score by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.<br /><br />Nantes Mayor Jean-Marc Ayrault saluted the find.<br /><br />[Jean-Marc Ayrault, Mayor of Nantes]:<br />"This rediscovery of a fragment from Leonardo da Vinci is an invitation to do some research."<br /><br />Da Vinci was one of the major painters, scientists and thinkers of the Renaissance, who lived from 1452-1519. He is best known for the Mona Lisa. He also designed a prototype for a flying machine with a rotating wing, the ancestor of the helicopter.
