Why We Celebrate International LEGO Day

Why We Celebrate International LEGO Day

Happy International LEGO Day from BrickNerd! Today we celebrate our love of LEGO bricks from all around the globe—but why today specifically? Looking at history, three events changed the game in such a remarkable way that we wouldn’t be AFOLs today if they hadn’t happened.

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The Passing Of King Henry VIII

Builder and history buff peggyjdb is back with another stellar build and a fascinating history lesson. There’s a reason Henry VIII is still a household name, he was larger than life. But even the largest of lives must come to an end, and this scene depicts his final hours in Whitehall Palace. Click through to learn something.

Viking Attack

I love how my daily quest for interesting LEGO creations has educated me over the past five years. Who would have thought that so much was to be learned of other cultures, events, people and world history through the stacking of bricks? Today I learned of the viking conquest of the coast of Spain in the year 858AD, thanks to this incredible diorama by The Brickstons Group. I could go on and on about all the detail and storytelling of this colossal effort, but it's really best experienced looking for yourself. I highly recommend you click through for loads of pictures.

Viking Attack
Viking Attack
Viking Attack

The Wall

This is truly epic. It's really hard to gauge the scale of this MOC by UK LEGO and history buffs Brick to the Past, unless you really scrutinize it. It's actually over 16 square meters in size! That's like the size of a decent bedroom. Or to get a better idea, it's built on 105 large base plates. The only thing possibly more epic is the subject matter, the wall. It represented the northern border of the ancient Roman empire way back when.

The wall - Rome's northern frontier

The 70's

Don't look for bell bottoms, the Gong Show or Star Wars, it's not that 70's. Builder gid617 has built a fascinating timeline of the 1870's, with a fantastic history lesson to boot. Various points along the decade are called out, and a lovely little vignette illustrates that event. Click through for a little historical knowledge and some excellent little MOCs.

Note: I took the liberty of color correcting this image, hope you don't mind gid617

Slums Of London

Intrepid builder and history buff Peggyjdb is back with another glimpse into London's past. This time it's the living conditions of the unskilled laborers in some of the poorest areas of London, and the efforts of Octavia Hill to elevate those conditions. This and many more outstanding, historical builds will be on display in Swindon at the Great Western Brick Show on October 4th-5th as part of the "London 1875 - Capital of an Empire" collaborative build. 

No way to live

You Mean We Shouldn't Drink Contaminated Water?

During my time in London I worked in Soho, and from time to time I would pass a small black pump thingy on the sidewalk without giving it a second thought. Then one day I read the plaque on it. It turns out it was the focus of infection in the 1854 Cholera outbreak. Builder peggyjdb recreates this pivotal moment in disease control in his usual informative and brilliant style. Ah to be a Londoner in the 1800's.

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