The Nicholson Museum’s Lego Colosseum was a big hit last year. Vast and ambitious — on a Lego scale — the Colosseum was a cutaway of the famous Roman monument rendered in Danish brick by certified Lego Professional Ryan McNaught. This year, the Museum has commissioned McNaught to return to build a new ancient Mediterranean archaeological construction: the Lego Acropolis.
The real Acropolis is a hill towering above Athens, whose most famous, ancient resident is the Parthenon. You can see the real one in Athens, a full-size fake one in Nashville and now the Lego version here in Sydney.
The real Parthenon has been a temple, a church, a mosque and gunpowder storage. (And the building only became a ruin when the storage thing collided with a Venetian cannonball.) It’s also the object at the centre in one of the best-known, public archaeological debates. (In fact, this one will feature a Lego Lord Elgin.) This one is unlikely to become the centre of debate, but it should make for some pretty interesting conversation, nonetheless.
The Acropolis will have a grand opening Saturday, July 6 from 10–4. It comes with Greek soldiers. The Nicholson Museum is open 10–4.30 Monday to Friday and 12–4 the first Saturday of the month.