In this day and age, one of the best media expressions of architecture has come in the form of scale versions of structures built using the very ubiquitous LEGO blocks. There have been countless stories about famous buildings and monuments being given the replica treatment.
The most recent build of note is in Italy, where a high school student and avid LEGO builder decided to realize his vision of the Duomo, also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The result is an astoundingly accurate rendition that, for a time, will be a local tourist attraction.
Giancinto Consiglio, a 17-year-old student from Italy’s Puglia region, was inspired to do a LEGO scale model of the Duomo cathedral following a tour of Florence, the capital of Tuscany region.
Impressed by the majesty of the 11th-Century cathedral building and the adjoining baptistery, Consiglio would use a CAD program on his home computer to generate a 3D model of the structures, and concluded that, to translate the CGI into a real model, he would need a total of 20,000 LEGO bricks, in 400 various shapes and ten different colors.
Once preparations were complete, Consiglio would return to Florence to construct the LEGO model of the Duomo, working inside the nearby Grand Museum. His attempt was promoted by museum staff as a special event, the work made open for viewing by visitors.
The budding Master Builder was helped by members from various AFOL groups such as Toscana Bricks, the Italian LEGO Users Group (ITLUG), and many interested builders from the area.
Ultimately the scale LEGO Duomo, standing 150 cm x 60 cm x 65 cm, was finished in one day. It will stay in the Grand Museum as a special free-view exhibit until November 9, when it will be moved to the Bricks in Florence Festival the following November 11 to 12.
For more details on this amazing project, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site. Image credits to La Repubblica.