Blog Connections
Buildable in Lego
In the Trivia category, we have a connection named Buildable in Lego: "WHS that are available as models from the official Lego Shop". It currently covers 15 locations across 12 sites. Unsurprisingly, these are among the most visited and best-known cities and landmarks globally, such as Paris, Rome, and the Taj Mahal. It’s a coincidence that they are also WHS.
Lego Architecture
All WHS Buildable in Lego are part of the Lego Architecture construction sets, aimed at an 18+ audience.
Officially they are split into the Landmark (Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc) and Architect (FLW, Le Corbusier, etc) series. Additionally, there are the Skylines, essentially a row of iconic buildings from one city. Here we find some doubles, that are also available as single landmark sets: Sydney Opera House is also part of the Sydney skyline, the Eiffel Tower of the Paris one, Big Ben in London, and the Statue of Liberty in New York. I even recognized Mt. Fuji in the Tokyo skyline.
The product range started in 2008. Most products have since been retired, and have become more costly (if you can find them for sale at all). I know of people that leave the products in the box and save them as investments!
The number of pieces included in each set seems to have steadily grown over the years. FLW’s Robie House and the Taj Mahal have over 2000 pieces each, but the earlier ones only a few hundred.
Building The Colosseum
In 2020, the biggest LEGO set (in terms of # of pieces) of all time was released: Rome’s Colosseum. It has 9,036 pieces, weighs 8 kg and costs about 500 EUR. I bought it last June as a present to myself – mostly as I could see it as a WH souvenir on display in a corner of my living room. Fortunately, I had a spare table of exactly the right size.
The only thing was that I had to put it together first.
In the huge box were 4 smaller boxes, labeled I, II, III, and IIII (the Romans used IIII as much as IV for 4, I learned from the accompanying booklet). They contained 40 larger plastic bags, with smaller ones in them. I did one bag a day when I felt like it. Because of its size, it is a bit repetitive, but I found the work had meditative qualities. It is a bit like doing jigsaw puzzles.
Lego bloggers do not prepare you for the mistakes you make along the way, and the wobbly lower part of the construction. One has to click the vertical building slices together to create the oval shape. After some ‘clicks’ I broke parts of the construction and had to put the pieces together again.
The last two bags I found really satisfying, as you will do the finishing touches like adding trees and little cars. A couple of gladiators would have been a nice addition. The result is impressive and unmistakable The Colosseum.
I don’t think I have enough space to display another set, but Machu Picchu or Chichen Itza could be great successors.
Do you own any of the WHS that are Buildable in Lego? Which one? And what did you do with it after you completed the build?
Els - 22 August 2021
Comments
Jay T 22 August 2021
I have plans to put them on shelves in an alcove, but right now my skylines are taking up space on a table. :-)
Zoë Sheng 22 August 2021
The best one I have is def the Statue of Liberty. It's a great build and not too many pieces, and not too big so it fits nicely on top of my shelf where it shines. Next to it, the Eiffel Tower as part of the skyline - it's bigger than the older crappy Skylines and also looks majestic up there.
I also had the Sydney Opera house (the Architect one, NOT the Expert one!) but gave it away. I had unique pieces but it was so small and doesn't look good on a table. Wide and flat stuff isn't nice like Lady Liberty.
Plus I have Big Ben (crap, also the Architect and not the Expert), Guggenheim (haven't built it), The Great Wall on my entrance table but some trees fell off due to dropping keys and bags there, London Skyline is quite nice with the Eye, Sydney Skyline (cuter than just the Opera House), New York Skyline with a mini Lady Liberty, Venice Skyline, Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Basically I have this setup on my cupboards that I have large tall things in the center, then a row of water-based devil ivy plants in glasses, and the mini skylines in front of them. Like a living city up on my cupboard.
What I found with many of the Architecture series, especially what you had built there, is that they are all beige and white. They didn't try to spice it up with anything. Newer models are trying to be better.
Matejicek 22 August 2021
sorry... link to the museum:
https://www.muzeumprahy.cz/en/
Matejicek 22 August 2021
Thanks, Els, very nice!
My comment is NOT about Lego, but it is related to the topic.
We have something a bit older and bigger than Lego models in Prague: Langweil´s model of Prague. It took 11 years (1826-1837) to complete it, and it is kind of unique.
http://www.langweil.cz/index_en.php
It is displayed in this museum (close to the Florenc bus station) http://www.langweil.cz/index_en.php which is closed now because of the long-term reconstruction.
Els Slots 22 August 2021
Do you display them somewhere, Jay T?
Jay T 22 August 2021
And six — the New York City skyline has the Statue of Liberty (not a particularly detailed or accurate one at that scale, but still recognizable for its intention)
Jay T 22 August 2021
Make that five LEGO Skyline sets that include a WHS — I forgot the Tokyo skyline has Fujisan in the background!
Jay T 22 August 2021
Congrats on the Colosseum! I haven’t put together any of the larger LEGO Architecture buildings, but I have collected all the Skyline series save for Las Vegas — I enjoy the building process for those sets, and it reminds me of places I have been. The Skyline series includes four sets with WHS locations: London (with the Palace of Westminster); Paris (with the Louvre, Grand Palais, and Eiffel Tower); Sydney (with the Opera House); and Venice (with the Rialto Bridge, St. Mark’s Basilica, the Campanile, the Bridge of Sighs, and the columns).
I also check out some of the LEGO Bloggers, including the one you linked to, but so far it doesn’t seem like anyone knows what the future will be for the Skyline series. I’d love to see Skylines for Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Istanbul if they ever get around to adding more.