Behold: LEGO Unveils the 9,036 Piece Roman Colosseum, Its Biggest Brick Set Ever

Move over Millennium Falcon, there’s a new king of LEGO sets in town, and while it’s not from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it does cover ancient history. LEGO just unveiled the Colosseum and will release the $549.99 set on November 27. At 9,036 pieces, it outstrips even the vast Millennium Falcon by nearly 1,500 bricks.

According to LEGO, the company went above and beyond to recreate the famous Roman Colosseum meticulously. It includes 80 ‘ribs’ in the spectator stands, just as in the original, and to mimic real life, you’ll assemble the wooden arena last—which is the final part built in real life.

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The Colosseum features an oval base to see it from all angles and display it any way you want. You can leave the crumbled section of the Colosseum facing out or turn the complete North Walls outward instead. You’ll also get to try out various vertical building techniques and install decorative volutes using an upside-down recolored roller skate element.

According to the designer, Rok Zgalin Kobe, the LEGO Colosseum does deviate from the original scale to show off its massive size visually.

As Kobe explains:

One of the biggest challenges and one of the most important things was to convey the Colosseum’s monumentality in the LEGO form. I felt that the LEGO model should display a special architectural feature of the original – the rows of columns flanking the arches in different styles. To achieve that, the model is constructed using an effect of vertical exaggeration. The cross-section is therefore far steeper than on the real structure. Hopefully, people will be inspired to learn more about the original through the experience of building the LEGO model.

All in all, the Colosseum measures 10.5″ (27cm) high, 20.5″ (52cm) wide, and 23.5″ (59cm) deep. That makes for an impressively large LEGO brick set that should require hours to build.

LEGO will launch the set on November 27, which is Black Friday. It’ll also offer a limited VIP reward. If you’re a LEGO VIP member and order the Colosseum set soon enough, you’ll also get a limited edition Roman Chariot.

The LEGO Colosseum will be $549.99, and you can buy it on the LEGO site.

Source: LEGO