Lego launches 12,060-piece Sagrada Família — its biggest ever set

The Lego Sagrada Família will be available in November. (LEGO via CNN Newsource)

Barcelona’s Sagrada Família is nearing completion after 144 years. Now, Lego is inviting fans to recreate the iconic church brick by brick — albeit on a much smaller scale.

Adding to its collection of miniature landmarks around the world — from New York City’s skyline and landmarks to the Eiffel Tower and Rome’s Trevi Fountain — Lego has unveiled the Sagrada Família set to mark the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Builders will be tasked with assembling 12,060 pieces, stacking 62 centimetres (24 inches) high to recreate a miniature model of the world’s tallest church, which stands at 172.5 metres (566 feet). The model also carries a hefty price tag — US$799.99, according to the Danish toy company.

Pre-orders are available, but fans will have to wait until November 1 to get their hands on the set.

A key detail of the design is the stained glass window effect, which echoes the range of color shades filtering light into the real basilica.

“Our goal was to honour Gaudí’s vision with the utmost respect, capturing the rhythm of the basilica’s construction, its extraordinary complexity and ambition, and translating that into an immersive building experience,” Lego’s Design Master, Rok Žgalin Kobe, said in a press statement published Thursday.

For decades, the Sagrada Família was considered unbuildable, due to its architectural complexities and the loss of Gaudí’s plans and models during 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. Generations of visitors became accustomed to seeing clusters of cranes surrounding the site as construction continued.

Work began on the church in 1882, following a design spearheaded by Gaudí, who decided the monumental structure would have 18 huge, spindle-shaped towers, each symbolizing a different biblical figure — the 12 apostles, the four evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

But when Gaudí died in 1926, only an estimated 10 to 15 per cent of the Sagrada Família had been built, including one transept, a crypt and some of the apse wall.

While some work remains to be done, the structure was considered symbolically complete in late February this year, with the completion of the Tower of Jesus Christ. Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to inaugurate the tower on Wednesday — exactly 100 years after Gaudi’s death.

Mustafa Qadri, CNN