Walk Through History in LEGO Bricks

We were really lucky to have had the chance to see the Brick History exhibition recently. It is touring Britain so do try and see it if you can! The Artist We saw the exhibition at the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery. According to a description on the wall, Warren Elsmore loves Lego. He spends his days creating models with the little plastic bricks. He has written books on Lego and takes commissions to recreate places, objects and events. I love that his Twitter description says “and yes I do get to play with LEGO for a living”. The exhibition is a whistle stop history tour. The Exhibition The exhibition itself is fascinating. It is divided into various sections - equality, exploration, transport, arts and conflict. There are models of events such as the handover of Hong Kong. The destruction of Pompeii and the first London underground train. The detail is amazing and the use of the different bricks is incredible. I always think of LEGO as bricks that hurt when you stand on them! Warren and his team have created landscapes and they’ve used oblong and rectangular bricks to create curves. Really inspired to get out the box of LEGO I’ve been storing for the last umpteen years! The Local Input What I really loved was that the museum has placed a local Herefordian LEGO character in a standard display case. We searched for characters as diverse as King Ethelbert to Jessica Raine. Also Ellie Goulding to Frank Oz, the voice of Yoda in Star Wars. And lots more! There are also LEGO models all around the city to find. It was great fun to see the current mayor and a woolly mammoth sharing their space. Did You Know 2.16 million bricks are moulded every hour. Laid end to end, the number of bricks sold in a year would reach more than 5 times around the world. LEGO mini figures are the world’s largest population with over 4 billion of them around the world. On average there are 80 LEGO bricks for every person on earth. The world’s tallest LEGO tower is made from 465,000 bricks and is 28.7m high. Phew that’s a lot of LEGO! Apparently, the exhibition will also visit Derby, Greenham Common and Norwich later this year and next. Click here for the dates. Do let us know if you get a chance to see it.