A Catholic priest from Pennsylvania has brought together his two biggest passions in life, his faith and his LEGO, to create a replica of the Vatican entirely out of the small plastic bricks.
Fr Bob Simon spent two years gathering the 500,000 pieces that went into the reconstruction of St Peter’s Basilica, the building of which took another 10 months.
The impressive structure is now on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, a museum dedicated to science, but where visitors are now invited to come and pay respectful reverence to one of the most iconic symbols of Catholicism.
Fr Simon’s build features a minifigure of the current pontiff, Pope Francis, waving to the crowd of gathered nuns, Swiss Guard, pickpockets, sombrero-wearers, and even an Elvis.
"I wanted to show a lot of diversity," Simon said. "St Peters Square is one of those places where people from all over the world come together."
In total, Fr Simon’s replica weighs 45kg, is more than four metres long and nearly two metres wide.
“It was daunting,” said Fr Simon, who has visited real McCoy at the Vatican five times. “It was an exercise in patience, and I was thrilled with the way everything came out.”
Fr Simon’s work has been included in a new exhibition dedicated to the Vatican ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to the city of brotherly love in late September.
While there are no plans for the head of the Catholic Church to pay a visit to the Franklin Institute to take in the LEGO replica, Fr Simon says he is not disappointed – he will be taking part in a Papal mass held on September 27th.
You can see more images of the LEGO Vatican in the gallery below:
