It's either an ancestor of virtual reality, a long-lost inspiration for augmented reality, a Gothic nightmare space waiting to happen, or some combination thereof:
In a book published nearly 600 years ago, in the year 1420, Venetian engineer Giovanni Fontana proposed a mechanical construction called the Castellum Umbrarum, or "castle of shadows."
Philippe Codognet describes the 15th-century machine as "a room with walls made of folded translucent parchments lighted from behind, creating therefore an environment of moving images. Fontana also designed some kind of magic lantern to project on walls life-size images of devils or beasts."
I'm pretty sure I saw this in Season 2 of Alias.
Posted by: Derek | March 01, 2011 at 22:16
Was that with what's his name, the Renaissance guy, and his weirdly advanced tech? I can't remember if I got that far in the series.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | March 02, 2011 at 22:49