Budapest’s breathtakingly beautiful architecture and landscape often inspire artists to immortalize this special scenery in various ways, but this time, LEGO Hungary had the innovative idea of recreating two postcard superstars of Budapest's stunning sights by using LEGO bricks. The miniature LEGO editions of the Millennium Monument of Heroes’ Square and the Chain Bridge were built with nearly 20,000 LEGO bricks over the course of four months. Visitors of WestEnd City Center will have the chance to admire the Chain Bridge model up-close during November 5-6.

Balázs Dóczy, an official LEGO builder, was working on the LEGO edition of Budapest’s most emblematic landmarks over the course of four whole months, using nearly 20,000 LEGO bricks, by the request of LEGO Hungary. For the first time, two realistic models of Budapest’s world-famous attractions – the beautiful Chain Bridge and the semi-circular Millenium Monument of Heroes’ Square – were constructed from a previously unused ‘building material’: LEGO bricks.

During the construction of the LEGO buildings, in addition to an artistic mindset, precision and creativity were also essential ingredients, as the builder had to let his fantasy unwind when it came to the landmark stone lions of the Chain Bridge designed by 19th-century Magyar sculptor János Marschalkó, and the beard of Lajos Kossuth’s statue, as these items are not found among the wide assortment of LEGO bricks.

“The two constructions are very different, and they both presented me with different challenges, but I really enjoyed building them both. As I had to do lots of research about the Millennium Monument, and I learned a lot about its history, it grew a bit closer to my heart: there are 28 sculptures on it altogether (plus 11 horses), that at first I wanted to make the same color, similarly to the sculptures found on the façade of the Music Academy.”

"However, accessories such as cloaks, weapons, and headpieces do not all exist in the same color (for example, in black or green). This is where the idea of colorizing them and ‘bringing them to life’ came from. Afterwards, I did thorough research to get to know all 28 sculptures in detail, and to make my mini versions accordingly. I recommend comparing my mini figures with the real sculptures to decide for yourself whether I succeeded or not,” said Balázs Dóczy, the builder of these LEGO structures.

At the moment, the two LEGO artworks are only found at the Hungarian headquarters of LEGO Hungary, but the Chain Bridge model will be on view at WestEnd City Center between November 5th-6th during the LEGO Kreatív Sziget event. In the meantime, check out the photos of both monumental models below!