Leonardo da Vinci designed a 33-barrel organ, a multi-barrel weapon arranged on a wheeled platform.
The weapon placed 33 small cannons in three rows. Its name comes from the organ-like arrangement of barrels, not from musical performance. The design was intended to allow one group of barrels to fire while another group was being loaded, increasing the potential rate of fire compared with a single cannon.
Leonardo proposed the weapon for military use, but surviving drawings do not establish that the full design was successfully built and deployed. It is therefore better described as a planned artillery system than as a proven battlefield weapon.
The 33-barrel organ is distinct from Leonardo’s giant crossbow. The crossbow used one very large bow, whereas this design relied on numerous gun barrels and coordinated firing. Both reveal Leonardo’s interest in changing the speed and organization of Renaissance warfare.