Chester Cathedral has marked two years since visitors to the building were first invited to explore cathedral life in miniature via a scale model of the city landmark made entirely from LEGO bricks.
The Chester Cathedral in LEGO second birthday party included a sponsored abseil from the cathedral crossing organised with the support of the Cheshire Army Cadet Force.
In total, ten members of cathedral staff and volunteers from the LEGO build project, including Vice Dean Canon Jane Brooke, braved the drop and abseiled some 50ft down the cathedral’s central crossing.
The abseil event raised nearly £1,000 for the project.
The Chester Cathedral in LEGO build project will take 350,000 individual LEGO pieces and transform them into an accurate scale model of the cathedral that will reach almost four metres in length and two metres in height.
Members of the public can purchase their own tiny piece of history in the form of a LEGO brick to be included in the model and are encouraged to learn all about the cathedral’s 1000-year history as the multi-layered story of the building through the ages is retold, brick by brick, from the very beginning.
Since its inception two years ago, 91,000 individual LEGO bricks have been sold and placed on the live build model.
The build also has some famous fans who have bought bricks including popstar Will Young and politician Boris Johnson.
A large number of the cathedral’s ornate features have already been painstakingly reproduced in LEGO including the Grand Organ, the Duke of Westminster’s Tomb, St Werburgh’s Shrine and the Garth Garden.
The model even featured LEGO poppies to mark Remembrance Day and LEGO Christmas trees to celebrate the cathedral’s Christmas Tree Festival.
The LEGO build project is the brain child of the cathedral’s education and fundraising departments and the money raised from the selling of LEGO bricks will go directly into a fund to support the Chester Cathedral Education Trust.
LEGO project co-ordinator Elizabeth Butterworth said: “We are thrilled that the LEGO model is turning two and hope members of the public will be able to join us for the festivities!
“We are making fantastic progress with the model and visitors love to see the building taking shape. We still have a long way to go and there are still more than 250,000 bricks up for grabs – so any purchase or donation will make a real difference.”
