What was the main purpose of Leonardo da Vinci’s parachute design?

Leonardo da Vinci’s parachute design was intended to enable a safe descent from a height.

In a manuscript generally dated to around 1485, Leonardo described a pyramid-shaped frame covered with linen. His notes proposed that a person could jump from a great height using the structure, which would slow the fall by creating air resistance.

The design was not a modern fabric parachute. Leonardo specified a broad wooden framework and a cloth covering, producing a rigid pyramid-like canopy. For centuries, the idea remained a drawing rather than a tested device. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nichols built and tested a modern replica based closely on the design.

Nichols’s replica descended successfully, although he used a conventional parachute for safety because the rigid structure was difficult to control near the ground. Leonardo’s concept therefore anticipated the basic purpose of a parachute without reproducing its modern flexible form.