Leonardo da Vinci’s late-15th-century parachute design had a pyramid-shaped canopy.
Leonardo described a rigid, pyramid-like frame covered with linen. His notes proposed a structure about 7 metres high and 7 metres wide, intended to let a person descend safely from a height. The design shows that he was considering controlled descent through air centuries before practical parachutes became common.
The drawing was not a modern parachute. It had a solid framework rather than a flexible fabric canopy, and there is no evidence that Leonardo tested it. The concept also lacked the compact folding arrangement used by later parachutists.
In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas built and tested a replica based on Leonardo’s description. It descended successfully, although Nicholas used a modern parachute for the final part of the descent because the replica could not be steered safely near the ground. The experiment demonstrated the design’s basic aerodynamic plausibility, not its practical Renaissance use.