LEGO® bricks are a popular toy that people of all ages have used to create and build with their imagination.
Whether you’re a kid or an adult, stacking these singular colorful bricks can lead to some incredible sculptures – some that have even achieved Guinness World Records titles.
62 years ago today, Founder Godtfred Kirk Christiansen submitted a patent application for the toy-building brick in 1958, which ultimately expanded into playsets, superstores, and even animated films.
Now, we’re celebrating the day by showing you some of the magnificent and over-the-top structures that have made it into the record books using tiny plastic bricks.
Largest LEGO® ship
To celebrate the launch of a new 18-deck, 151,695-ton cruise ship, a Hong Kong tourism company decided to mark the occasion by building a large-scale replica out of LEGO®. The result was the largest LEGO® ship, achieved by Dream Cruises to mark the launch of its World Dream ship as part of their '#TogetherWeBuildDreams' campaign. Constructed using more than 2.5 million LEGO® blocks, the ship model weighs over 2,800 kg and measures 8.44 m (27.7 ft) long, 1.33 m (4.36 ft) wide and 1.53 m (5 ft) tall. A fun fact about this record? Over 1,000 cruise line guests from around the world and members of the general public helped to construct this piece with the help of a certified LEGO® professional!
Tallest LEGO® Tower
LEGO® Italia (Italy) built a structure in Milan that measured a soaring 35.05 m (114 ft 11 in) and required approximately 550,000 LEGO® bricks to complete. For this record, the LEGO® Group donated seven euros for every centimeter of the tower that was built to a project which focuses on the protection and development of Urban Oasis, in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund. By achieving this title, event organizers wanted to emphasize that as each of the tiny bricks were important to complete the huge structure, small actions like donating to charity are important to help build a better future.
Largest LEGO® Sculpture (number of bricks)
This huge 13-metre high LEGO® version of London’s Tower Bridge created for Land Rover to launch their New Discovery car is nothing short of impressive and record breaking. Made using a total of 5,805,846 individual pieces, it beat the previous record by 470,646 bricks. Laid end to end, the bricks used in the construction would stretch for almost 200 miles - the equivalent distance from Tower Bridge in London to Paris.
Largest LEGO® brick cherry blossom tree
This successful attempt was achieved at LEGOLAND® Japan – the Nagoya-based theme park wanted to celebrate its first anniversary with style by creating a Japanesque work using LEGO® blocks.The resulting beautiful plastic sakura tree measured 4.38 metres tall, 5.42 metres long and 4.93 metres wide – over 800,000 LEGO® bricks were needed to pull this off! The tree was designed and built by a team of staff in the Czech Republic. After more than 6,700 hours of hard work, the LEGO® tree was shipped to Japan for final assembly. The tree also features a set of lanterns (made of LEGO®), which light up during the evening.
Largest LEGO® brick Ferris Wheel
If you love carnivals, you’ll have an appreciation for this LEGO® structure, which resembles a functioning Ferris Wheel. Built by Tomáš Kašpařík (Czech Republic) it has a diameter of 3.38 metres (11 ft 1 in) and was built on 22 October 2017. The total height of the LEGO®-brick Ferris wheel is 3.64 metres (11 ft 11 in) and it contained a total of 43 carriages.
Largest LEGO® great ball contraption
Comprising of a staggering 100 individual modules each erected from LEGO® Technics, this elaborate piece of engineering is officially the world’s largest Great Ball contraption. A Great Ball contraption is a machine intended to pass a ball from one location to another through a series of mechanical steps contained within modules, all of which are compatible and interchangeable with one another. Following hours of hard work from the builders, the intricate apparatus was tested at the BRICK event in Excel, London, UK, in front of a stunned audience. The total travel time for one ball to complete the full circuit with no manual interference was 16.49 minutes.
Largest LEGO® Caravan
You’ll be ready for the wilderness with this amazing LEGO® sculpture, which consists of a staggering total of 288,630 individual bricks and comes with LEGO® food and LEGO® appliances. The record was achieved by John Cochrane Advertising, and Ben "The Brick Builder" Craig, who oversaw the building of the caravan in Brisbane, Australia. It was modeled on a 1973 Viscount Royale and was built to scale. The caravan consisted of basic amenities such as running water and electricity, as well as some home comforts. These included a checkers board, flowers and flower pot, milk and cheese in the fridge, a piece of toast, a saucepan and fried egg, and the Aussie staple, a jar of Vegemite, ALL made of LEGO®! This record was quite the passion project, as artist and creator even slept in the LEGO® bed after accidentally locking himself in the work room overnight!
