Brickman LEGO® exhibition building blocks into record books

A block buster Brickman LEGO® exhibition featuring 50 displays and more than 1.3 million LEGO® bricks has already broken records at Queensland Museum.

Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said the Brickman Wonders of the World LEGO brick exhibition is opening tomorrow, and is already building blocks into the record books.

“At a time when we cannot travel to see the wonders of the world ourselves, this exciting exhibition is the just the ticket to see international icons without leaving Brisbane,” Minister Enoch said.

“It is clear Queenslanders are extremely excited for this exhibition – Queensland Museum have already sold 7,400 tickets in only two weeks, which has broken the Museum’s pre-sale records.

“This is amazing, there is no doubt this exhibition will have visitors in pieces.

Minister Enoch said this exhibition is the perfect way for individuals and families to ‘build-on’ school holiday fun.

“This exhibition promises to be a hands-on journey through history with these LEGO brick masterpieces, including Big Ben, The Titanic, The Space Shuttle, The Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, the Arc de Triomphe and Queensland’s own natural wonder of the world, the Great Barrier Reef,” she said.

“So much work has gone into this exhibition. The 50 displays took the team 4,922 hours – or 205 days – to build.

“Visitors will also be able to get into the fun, as the exhibition will feature 1 million LEGO bricks for people to build their own creations.

“So make sure you block out a few hours if you intend to head to the Museum to see these wonders of the world in LEGO form!”

Queensland Museum Network CEO Dr Jim Thompson said excitement is building for the opening of the exhibition, with visitors able to see some of the greatest wonders of the world in LEGO brick form right here at Queensland Museum.

“It doesn’t matter what age you are, if you’re a master builder or just beginning your LEGO story, Brickman Wonders of the World will take you on a journey that will inspire your imagination,” Dr Thompson.

“This is your chance to explore history’s greatest masterpieces, brought to life by LEGO professional and LEGO Master’s Australia judge, Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught.”

Mr McNaught said he was excited to see the iconic LEGO Masters Australia Space Shuttle on display.

“This is such an iconic piece from season three in 2021 and it took the team 775 hours to build and is made with 167,891 LEGO bricks,” Mr McNaught said.

“Standing at 4.5 metres high – it certainly fits the criteria of a wonder of the world!”

Minister Enoch said the success of this exhibition so far showed how important arts and cultural experiences are in Queensland’s economic recovery.

“The arts are key to delivering our plan for economic recovery, each year contributing $8.5 billion into the state’s economy and supporting more than 92,000 jobs for Queenslanders.

“That is why in this week’s Budget the Palaszczuk Government has continued our investment in the sector, including a commitment of $9 million to ensure the continuation of World Science Festival at Queensland Museum, which is the only Festival of its kinds held outside of New York.”

Brickman Wonders of the World will open at Level 3 Queensland Museum on Friday 18 June and runs until 4 October. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/brick

ENDS

Media contact: Pam Frost 0437 859 987

Fast Facts:

• More than 1.3 million LEGO Bricks were used on the display
• The 50 displays took Ryan McNaught and his team 4,922 hours to build (205 days)
• Altogether, the displays in the exhibition weigh more than tonne
• An additional 1 million LEGO bricks will be at the exhibition for visitors to build their own creations
• After the Space Shuttle the most time consuming display to create was Moscow’s St Basil the Blessed Church clocking up 320 hours in build time
• The next heaviest display is the RHS Titanic weighing in at 120 kilograms and taking the team 240 hours to build
• At 3.6 metres high the CN Tower is the second tallest build in the exhibition
• The Golden Gate Bridge stretches to 4.2 metres long, but is not the longest in the exhibition – that goes to the Tokyo Subway system map at 4.65 metres long
• The model with the second most bricks used is the Flying Scotsman, which is made up of 164,611 bricks
• Ryan McNaught and a team of seven Brickman builders worked together to create Brickman Wonders of the World
• The word LEGO was created by taking the first two letters of the Danish words LEG GODT, which means ‘play well’
• The humble  LEGO brick is more than 50 years old – the bricks made in 1958, will still fit perfectly with those made today
• The moulds used to produce LEGO bricks are accurate to within two-thousandth of a millimetre (0.002 mm!). Because of this high degree of accuracy, there are only around 18 bricks in every million produced that fail to meet the company’s high quality standard
• There are over 4 billion LEGO Minifigures around the world
• Laid end to end, the number of LEGO bricks sold in a year would reach more than five times around the world
• On average there are 80 LEGO bricks for every person on earth
• LEGO is the worlds largest producer of car Tyres (even if they are really small!)