Da Vinci Exhibit Briefly Closes in Beijing Due to English Errors

By Justine Lopez, September 26, 2016

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An exhibition featuring Leonardo da Vinci’s works was temporarily closed to the public on Saturday due to some rather embarrassing English-language errors. The “Dialogue with da Vinci” exhibition is currently being held at the illustrious Tsinghua University in Beijing, where 60 of da Vinci’s manuscripts are on display.

However, despite being held at such a well-respected university museum, the exhibit got off to a rocky start. Visitors noticed a large number of translation errors on display, and it didn’t take long for images of these mistakes to circulate on social media.

There were at least 10 glaring grammatical and spelling errors found in the exhibition, Ejinsight.com reports. Among the many mistakes was the misspelling of The Last Supper, which was written as The Last “super.” Another error was spotted on a panel that intended to say that da Vinci left home at the age of 47 but instead read “47 years old he leaved from Milan.” 

Criticism not only stemmed from the errors, but many were reportedly extra critical because of the caliber of the venue and university. 

Zhou Xin, deputy director of the Tsinghua University Museum, claims that the translation errors were made because there was not enough time to proofread the materials. In response to criticism, the museum was shut down for approximately three hours on Saturday in order to correct the errors.

The museum has also vowed to give honorary membership to anyone who helped to spot the errors, and plans to employ professional translators in the future. 

[Image via Facebook/CCTV]

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