As we welcome the newest Pope after a mere 2-day-long conclave (I honestly thought it would last longer), our eyes are on the Vatican too – not the real Vatican but rather, this staggeringly detailed LEGO version of the Vatican City, built in 2018 by Rocco Buttliere. The 1:650 scale model is so hyper-accurate, it captures every single building visible in the area – and the only thing really missing is the white smoke that billowed from the conclave’s chimney a mere hours ago!
It’s safe to say Rocco Buttliere is a LEGO mastermind, having built this massive artpiece just at the age of 26. It isn’t his last, as Rocco’s Flickr page is filled with other hyper-real replicas of existing buildings, from the ruins of the Pantheon to even more contemporary builds like the Sydney Opera House. This one remains a genuine favorite, given its sheer size and detail, down to every single building and tree.
Designer:
“What inspired me was just the fact that there’s almost 4,000 years of human history represented in the architecture and the museums and the artifacts themselves,” said Buttliere back in 2018. “That level of spiritual resonance was something that really made me want to tackle the whole (city state),” he told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Buttliere only visited Rome once, spending hours inside the Sistine Chapel admiring its beauty (sadly, interiors aren’t visible in his LEGO recreation). Most of his recreation stems from obsessively analyzing 3D scenes in Google Earth, drawing plans in AutoCAD, and then building out sections of the scene.
Buttliere first started with St. Peter’s Basilica, arguably the largest and most noteworthy building in the entire region. Building Michelangelo’s Dome that sits on top of the Basilica proved to be a significant challenge, but Buttliere overcame it by relying on ‘LEGO part 40396c01’, or the Sand Blue Dinosaur Tail.
A look at the challenging recreation of the ‘ovato tondo’, the Vatican’s oval, which becomes fairly complicated to recreate when LEGO doesn’t really accommodate for elliptical or oval shapes. For Buttliere, it meant relying on a combination of straight and curved pieces that would ‘approximate’ the oval shape. At the center of the oval lies the Obelisk of Caligula, a symbol of the power of the Pope and the Catholic Church.
While the original basilica (Old St. Peter’s) was built in the 4th century, the current basilica, including the dome, was a project spanning centuries, starting in the 15th century and culminating in the 17th century. Michelangelo designed the dome, but its final form was influenced by his successors, Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. It’s tough not to appreciate the multiple styles of architecture that you can somehow view even in this LEGO variant. Buttliere even fashioned the top of the dome with the large ornate cross that crowns the Michelangelo dome even today.
A view of Michelangelo’s plan of the basilica
Moving on to other architectural pieces within the city, here’s a look at the Cortile del Belvedere (or Belvedere Courtyard), with the Belvedere Palace just behind it.
At the center, you can see the famous ‘Sphere within sphere’ art installation commissioned in 1966 by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. Beside it, in white, is the Chiaramonti Museum.
A view of the Apostolic Palace (above), or the official residence of the Pope. The recently elected Pope Leo XIV will reside here. Below is the Pinacoteca Vaticana or the Vatican Art Gallery.
The white building above is the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI to promote mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological problems. Below it is the Governor’s Palace, where the governor of the Vatican sits. The current governor, Sister Rafaella, is responsible for the daily operations and administration of the city-state, including overseeing its laws, security, infrastructure, and cultural heritage, while following directives from the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church.
The rest of the Vatican build includes all newer additions to the region too, like the Paul VI audience hall (above), a few more obscure buildings, and even the Vatican Railway, which cuts through the back of the region. The Basilica is perhaps the most prominent building, visually, but most of the area behind it is a forest, which Buttliere recreated too.
They say it could take weeks (if not months) to properly tour the Vatican. Funnily enough, it could take just about the same amount of time to appreciate every single detail in Buttliere’s staggering 67,000 brick build. The entire layout is massive – about as long as an adult human is tall – and can only be transported in sections. Occasionally, some parts come undone or break off, but Buttliere’s devised a system that makes them easy to replace and repair in minutes, so that, even in transit, the Vatican City remains as gorgeously intricate as the real deal!
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