An Italian expert on Leonardo Da Vinci has revealed his dislike for the new Hollywood blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.

"I've read the novel and to be frank, I don't like it, because much of the storyline is untrue," Paolo Galluzzi, curator of the Science and Technology Museum of Florence, told Xinhua.

"Many readers are deeply fascinated by the Da Vinci created by the novel, but I have to remind them that it is not the Da Vinci from scientific history," he said.

Galluzzi is now in Beijing to attend a two-month-long technology exhibition which opened Saturday to show the Chinese visitors a totally different Leonardo Da Vinci - not a world famous painter, but a scientist and an inventor.

The exhibition, held in the Beijing Museum of Natural History, has 59 exhibits and copies of manuscripts. It introduces the scientific attainments by Italy and Da Vinci 500 years ago to the Chinese people.

It is held as an activity to mark the China-Italy cultural year in 2006.

"Literature and film can make up stories, but this exhibition we hold in Beijing must be based on facts to show the public the true face of a scientist of precision," Galluzzi said.

"The Da Vinci Code," the film adapted from Dan Brown's best-selling novel, made its world debut in Beijing on Wednesday evening.

Source: Xinhua