Visitors to Chester Cathedral will be able to explore church life in miniature when the city landmark is immortalized in Lego.
The brainchild of the cathedral’s education and fundraising departments, the Chester Cathedral in Lego building project will take 350,000 individual Lego pieces and transform them into an accurate scale model of the cathedral that will reach almost 4m in length and 2m in height.
Members of the public will be able to purchase their own small piece of history in the form of a lego brick to be included in the model and will be 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.
Volunteer bricklayers will work every day of the week to build the model from the foundations up and it is estimated that the project will take up to four years to complete.
The model, which will split in two to reveal the inside of the building - is set to include special features unique to Chester Cathedral’s interior, such as the Grand Organ, painstakingly recreated in Lego.
Director of operations Simon Warburton said: “We are very excited about the Chester Cathedral in Lego project and are very much looking forward to it getting underway this spring. The unique thing about Chester Cathedral is that our architecture spans nearly 1000 years of history. The model will recreate each style and so is a really effective way of telling the story of our building.”
Education officer Helen Barber added: “The Chester Cathedral in Lego project will have a strong focus on education. We think the project will help us to reach new audiences – and we can’t wait to use it engage with families, children and young people.”
Volunteers are being sought to help build the Lego model, which is due to start in April and last for at least three years. If you have a passion for Lego and can spare three hours every week, email Emma Roberts on emma.roberts@chestercathedral.com.
The model will be officially opened with a launch event on April 18.
Durham Cathedral have also replicated their building in Lego, with every £1 donation going towards a new Lego brick for the model. At present, more than 100,000 bricks have been sold.
