Priest makes Lego Vatican in time for papal visit

Considering that many adult builders have created some interesting Lego brick replicas of historic and architecture structures, it should be no surprise that someone has taken the time to build a Lego replica of the Vatican.

The Lego St. Peter’s Square is full of Swiss guards, tourists, a nun with a selfie stick and, of course, the pope overlooking the crowd.

About 500,000 Lego pieces were used to complete the model which is now on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Simon’s masterpiece measures 14 feet by 6 feet and weighs about 100 pounds.

Simon told USA Today that he’d wanted to build a Lego Vatican model since the seventh grade, but his previous attempts hadn’t looked “anything like the real thing”.

Simon leads St. Catherine of Siena church in northeastern Pennsylvania. According to People Magazine on Friday, the artist took his time putting together the project by using a picture of the Vatican on the cover of a book jacket with some help from Google Earth, but he has been to the Vatican as well.

Simon said the creative process in constructing the Lego Vatican was a spiritual experience, much like the repetitive motion of praying the rosary.

Father Bob Simon spent about ten months creating this brick version of St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square, the Associated Press reports. “Vatican Splendors“, which opens Saturday, includes treasured art and religious relics from the Holy See.

A Philadelphia museum is displaying a priest’s Lego replica of the Vatican in its atrium ahead of Pope Francis’ planned visit to the city. He still plans on attending Pope Francis’s Papal mass in Philadelphia on September 27th.