Today is President’s Day, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s annual posthumous joint birthday bash. Anticipating an excess of free time on this grand federal holiday, Lego recently launched a timely, patriotic solution: Brick-lovers can celebrate by building a tiny plastic replica of the Lincoln Memorial, the latest monument to join the brand’s Landmark Architecture kit series. (We already finished the White House kit. Ages ago.)
via Lego
The 274-piece mini-memorial to the 16th president should be a breeze for a Lego fan, but it’s worth mentioning that it took Washington, D.C., seven years (1914–1921) to realize Henry Bacon’s Beaux-Arts vision of a Parthenon on the National Mall, the dream of a man with a fondness for Greek architecture and patriotic symbolism. In the spirit of historical accuracy, you can argue about what it should look like and where you should put it for at least a few hours before you begin construction, bearing in mind that the 36 Doric columns around the perimeter symbolize the 36 states in the union at the time of Lincoln’s death in 1865. Unfortunately, the Flying Lincoln mini-fig is sold separately, and not to scale.
via Wikia
If you’re not content just to recreate the back of the five-dollar bill in Lego and display it in a corner of your desk or bookshelf, you can also try your hand at reproducing Nathan Sawaya’s portrait of Honest Abe (instructions not included):
Via Nathan Sawaya
