The Lego Vatican

June 7 through October 2018

The Jubilee Museum is proud to showcase this incredible model of St. Peter’s Basilica this summer as we celebrate our 20th Anniversary.

FAST FACTS:

  • Father Bob Simon, the artist behind the LEGO® brick Vatican Model, has been a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania for 27 years.
  • On September 21, 2014, Fr. Simon laid the first bricks of his Vatican model. This is his first large-scale build.
  • He was inspired to begin this project in preparation and celebration of the Pastoral Visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia.
  • His finished construction was displayed at Brickfair 2015 in Virginia, where it won both “Best Historical” and “Public Favorite” “Brickees” prizes.
  • Setup of the model takes up to two days, with three people working on the structure’s 25 different sections.
  • The Piazza has over 44,000 cobblestones sitting atop 12,000 tan tiles. There are over 6,000 round bricks that make up the columns of the Colonnade.
  • The model is worth $10,000 in LEGO® bricks and took over 10 months to build.
  • The structure is about 14’ x 7’ x 7’ and weighs about 100 pounds.
  • All of the pieces are certified LEGO® bricks—none of which were altered in any way.
  • Simon tapped into his creativity to repurpose LEGO® pieces in unconventional ways, such as using the LEGO® life preserver pieces as the windows dotting the Vatican’s iconic dome.
  • A custom LEGO® Minifigure of Fr. Simon can found near the obelisk, poised in contemplation of the splendor of the Vatican. He has visited the Vatican five times