Thread by @tutubuslatinus

How do you create a Lego build of an entire country? You start with the world’s smallest county, Vatican City, which covers just over 100 acres and is roughly one-eighth the size of Manhattan’s Central Park.

Images of this incredible build were released yesterday by artist Rocco Buttliere. The model has a 1:650 scale, contains c. 67,000 Lego pieces, took 500 hours in the designing and 300 hours in the building. It measures 131cm x 273cm. It has an extraordinary level of detail.

Here we have St. Peter’s Square, the large 1667 plaza that sits directly before St. Peter’s Basilica. In the centre you can clearly see an Egyptian obelisk that was erected at this sight almost 100 years before the building of the square. Caligula had it brought to Rome in 37 AD.

Behind the square is St Peter’s Basilica, built over the tomb of the apostle St Peter. Building was begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and was completed in 1615 under Paul V. The dome was one of the last projects of Michelangelo, and was incomplete at the time of his death in 1564.

About half of Vatican City is covered in gardens. The gardens contain a range of structures, such as the ordered Palace of the Governatorate, and the more chaotic Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Here we see - from front to back - the Apostolic Library, Pigna Courtyard and Belvedere Casino. Off to the left is the Pinacotheca, inaugurated in 1932. It contains the papal collection of paintings.

There is much much more to see, and I encourage you to seek out more of these images on Flicker (flickr.com/gp/64310298@N0…) or to follow @ rjbuttliere on Instagram.

On the same Flicker page you can watch a three and half minute video which shows off the model’s highlights. Here is a snippet as long as Twitter will allow me to post.

I’ll leave you, as so many Vatican tours do, with the famous view from the dome of St Peter. A huge thank you to Rocco for allowing me to share this with you here. And in case you were wondering - yes, Rocco is the same builder who created that magnificent model of Rome. macte!