150 million LEGO pieces - the world's largest diorama

A huge number of inconsistencies and inaccuracies. A very strange Guinness record and an absolutely incredible creation of Chinese masters. More and more achievements and amazing events are happening in China. But even here it was not possible to get away from the stigma “fake / knockoff” and the clear association that “China” is something unoriginal.

Before moving on to the incredible building, I want to say a few words about where it is located. So, we are transferred to the huge Chinese city of Shenzhen (approximately 10kk population). I spent a lot of time on the official website of the museum, looked into all possible links, then spent a lot of time in search engines, but I still could not find the name of this museum. Let it be "SMAERD land". This is the largest indoor children's museum in China: 30,000 square meters, 3 floors and 8 different thematic exhibitions (in addition to Lego, there are trains, dinosaurs, the music world, etc.). Investment in the museum amounted to 1.5 billion Yuan (23 567 500 USD). Are you aware of the scale? Still, money cannot solve all issues.

In addition to the record-breaking fantasy diorama, the theme section of the Blocks Kingdom museum has many different exhibitions - African animals, science fiction section (in which most of the buildings represent the Star Wars universe). "Windows to the World" in which magnificent architectural structures are presented: the Washington Capitol, St. Basil's Cathedral and others.

Finally, we move on to the diorama. Many sources indicate that it is dedicated to the "Lord of the Rings". Indeed, there is a mini-copy of Mordor and other iconic objects of this universe. But Minas Tirith, the Barad-Dur tower or the Moria mines are completely absent.

But if you look closely, you can see buildings and locations related with the World of Warcraft, and even some pyramids with balloons. Hence the first misunderstanding - why on the official website and in presentations emphasize that it was inspired by "The Lord of the Rings". Just should’ve been called a diorama of the fantasy world. This way they could save the exhibition from a huge number of hate.

And yet, what is in front of us? What are these crazy numbers? What was the record for? Let's try to imagine - 191 square meters, this is the area of this structure. If you come to the museum and look at this large-scale work for 5 hours in a row, you will still miss out on the lion's share of the features, Easter eggs and building secrets. It's hard to even imagine the size of this little miracle.

150,000,000 Lego bricks. Just think about this figure. I cannot imagine such a volume. To be honest, after writing the article, the city of Shenzhen has become one of the "must-see in the future" points. How much can this diorama cost? Probably the plant (or maybe more than one) has been producing all the necessary parts for this grandiose order for several days. Now you understand why the Asian market is one of the most perceptive in the world. All companies and corporations turned their heads to the East.

Let's add some more numbers and dream. This exposition has been preparing for 3 years. 3 years! This is something incredible. 50 different designers have worked on the diorama. Probably, this is how the fierce combination of Warcraft with the Lord of the Rings and other fantasy happened. Isn't this a dream job - collecting masterpieces from an unlimited number of Lego parts for a salary, about which they will then write articles, shoot videos. But there are still children who visit the exhibition, are inspired to work and, perhaps, will remember your craft for the rest of their lives. Let's add here also getting into the Book of Records. 

The only thing that can really scare you is the state of our home planet. The global lockdown clearly does not allow this exhibition to spread its wings, accept all possible tourists and earn extra money. Let's hope that the museum is on the government support and won’t go bankrupt.

I recommend that you watch the video of the official Guinness Records Channel. From the video, you can barely imagine the size of this work.