Leonardo da Vinci designed an organ gun with 33 small gun barrels arranged in three rows on a wheeled platform.
The barrels were intended to fire in sequence, producing a rapid series of shots. Their arrangement resembled the pipes of a musical organ, which explains the weapon’s name. The carriage could be repositioned on the battlefield and the design aimed to combine mobility with concentrated fire.
Leonardo’s organ gun was a paper design rather than a documented standard weapon of his armies. It should not be confused with a single cannon or a mortar: an organ gun is a multi-barrel firearm whose barrels can fire separately or in groups.