GodBricks

Yin and Yang

2012-01-27T16:39:00.003-05:00

Often times in the west we think of the Yin and Yang symbol as a battle between good and evil, but that's not how it really works in Taoism and other aspects of Chinese religion and philosophy. The idea is more that there are opposite qualities that work together in a balanced system. These could be light and darkness, or, as in this Yin/Yang mosaic by Sharon Prue, hot and cold. This beautiful MOC won 'Best Fire' at a recent gathering of LEGO builders.

Happy New Year

2012-01-20T08:19:00.001-05:00

Cai Shen is a god of prosperity in Chinese folk tradition, later venerated in Taoism and some forms of Buddhism. Today figures of Cai Shen (here by rack911) are often included in Chinese New Year decorations as tokens of good luck for wealth in the year to come.

Silent night, holy night

2012-01-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

Blake Baer made this nativity as a gift for his mother.

Sola LEGO

2012-01-13T10:33:00.006-05:00

Legohaulic made this great Bible.

Chapelle d'En

2012-01-12T02:44:00.001-05:00

Left4bricks built the Chapelle d'En found in Languedoc, France. I guess the original dates from the 13th century.

Bible stories

2012-01-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

AlfredD has a gallery of the 10 most beautiful Bible stories.

Here we see parable of the good Samaritan:

Here is Joseph first being sold into slavery by his brothers, and then reconciling with them.

This is Queen Esther.

Here is creation week. I thought day 1 was particularly clever.

Jonah being spit up on the beach.

Well, that's it. I hope he posts the other five stories (there's a tower in his Brickshelf gallery that might be Babel, I suppose). I'm not sure how I'd limit myself if I set out to illustrate ten Bible stories. Of course there is nothing here of the life of Jesus, so the nativity, crucifixion and resurrection are pretty obvious calls. I suppose I'd be sure to include at least one thing from the Exodus, but would that be the burning bush, the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the law, or what? You kind of need the Fall if you want to tell a cohesive narrative. Other people like Noah, Abraham, David should all make appearances. I'd probably have left out a couple of the ones above if I had to fit an artificial limit of ten.

LDS Temples

2012-01-10T09:25:00.000-05:00

Andrew Johnson has built a series of LDS Temples, including the Washington DC, Nauvoo, and Denver temples.

Holocaust LEGO

2012-01-04T10:25:00.002-05:00

In 1996 Polish artist Zbigniew Libera designed seven fake LEGO sets depicting scenes of Nazi Concentration Camps.

These were designed as sets, with faux box art. There was a bit of a controversy in that he put the LEGO logo on the box and said they were sponsored by LEGO. LEGO initially donated him the bricks (which, c'mon, would have cost maybe a couple hundred at the most on Bricklink), but later objected when they saw the product and unsuccessfully sued to get the sets removed. To me this seems a bit disingenuous of them - he was, as far as I can tell, he was already known at this time for taking toys and making them into bizarre or outrageous works (e.g. a baby doll that was partially dissected, etc).

Anyway, Libera made three copies of this, which were sold to collectors. They've been shown at various museums in the interim, always evoking lots of discussion, both pro and anti (see, for instance, this commentary. One of the three installments of seven sets was recently purchased by the Warsaw Museum of Modern art from a private collector for 55000 Euros (~US$71000). By the way, this does raise for me the question of what makes a MOC into Art. As a LEGO creation this is pretty low level stuff - just look around Brickshelf and Flickr and you'll see much better building. I've certainly seen AFOLs build MOCs based on similarly shocking or moving subject matter, including things like waterboarding, the torture of the Falun Gong, and even other Holocaust depictions. Why aren't we in the AFOL community selling our work for tens of thousands of dollars? Oh well, a discussion for another forum. Someone (and I promise this time, it's not me, I just don't have the expertise) really should start an ArtBricks blog.

While the Nazi regime impacted all of Europe, of course their particular evil was focused on Jews, with six million killed. Jewish life today is still impacted by the Holocaust, and Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance, is treated as a holy day in Jewish communities around the world, with prayers said in remembrance of those killed. By the way, I'd highly recommend Michael Goldberg's Why Should Jews Survive?: Looking Past the Holocaust Toward a Jewish Future, in which he argues that remembrance of the Holocaust has become too great a definer of Jewish culture today, and he argues for a return to a deeper purpose, dating back to the covenant at Sinai.

This LEGO creation is one that I've gone back and forth on with regards to this blog. Every so often someone comes across this and posts it to some LEGO forum, where it ignites a debate. Some find this work completely appalling, and say it should be shunned. Personally I think it really works as art in that it starts a conversation. Rather than trivializing the subject, I think showing this in the innocence of a toy emphasizes the horror of the Holocaust. You could also take away messages about how we market violence and war to young boys, or how corporations become complicit in governmental evil. So while I've hesitated to blog this work before, I'm glad that it came up in the news again to remind me to post it.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T16:53:00.002-05:00

Chinese New Year isn't actually here for a few weeks yet, but 2012 is the year of the dragon (here by ArzLan). The Chinese zodiac is one of those cultural practices that doesn't have any real religious significance now, as far as I can tell, but the origins go way back to days where folk tales and folk religion were tied together. Various origin tales I found have the gods or God choosing the animals of the zodiac, and one origin story specifically says Buddha made this choice.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. - Luke 2:6,7
Brick Monster wishes us all a merry Christmas.

Magi

2011-12-24T08:21:00.001-05:00

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea in the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem. - Matthew 2:1
Steve Bishop's Magi came in 2nd in the New Testament category of the LEGO Biblical Scenes Contest.

Samson

2011-12-23T13:12:00.000-05:00

Lego27bricks made this great Chained to the pillars

Menorah

2011-12-22T12:58:00.001-05:00

While the giant public display menorahs are fun (for instance, see this one in Oregon), my favorite might be this one by Eli built last year at Hanukkah.

Happy Hanukkah

2011-12-20T08:54:00.003-05:00

I'd like to wish all of my Jewish readers a very Happy Hanukkah. The Festival of Lights begins tonight at sundown. Each night a candle of the menorah is lit to commemorate the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days at the rededication of the Second Temple. Each year, and this year is no exception, there are stories of groups that build giant LEGO menorahs, like this one from three years ago, so you might want to check for an event near you.

Abraham and Isaac

2011-12-18T17:52:00.003-05:00

There are only a couple more days to get in your entry for the LEGO Biblical Scenes Contest. IMO, the odds-on favorite to win the Old Testament category is Blakes Baericks' Abraham and Isaac.

Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

2011-12-17T20:32:00.002-05:00

This week Christopher Hitchens lost his fight with cancer, and the world seems a poorer place. An essayist and commentator on a great number of political and social issues, in recent years he has become known as one of the "Four Horsemen of the New Athiests", vigorously debating all comers against the belief in God. While I disagree with his conclusions, and would love to have debated him, I will miss his mastery of language, his biting wit, and his gracious manner of dealing with his opponents, even while viciously attacking their ideas. As a little private memorial I listened yesterday to an mp3 of his 2008 debate with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. I highly recommend listening or watching some of his countless debates, many of which can be found on YouTube or through iTunes. I was hoping to find some LEGO tie in, but the only thing I could find was a 2006 piece republished in his book Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens in which he was urging his readers to join him in a demonstration outside the Danish Embassy in Washington, DC (this during the whole Danish Muhammad cartoons controversy). He wrote: "Danish flags are good, or posters reading "Stand By Denmark" and any variation of this theme ("Buy Carlsberg/Havarti/Lego").

Mithraeum

2011-12-12T15:02:00.000-05:00

-[mikey]- built this Mithraeum, which is an underground temple for adherents of the mystery religion Mithraism. During the first through fourth centuries, many in the Roman Empire turned to this faith, drawing on the Persian deity Mithras. Little is known about the specific doctrines of Mithraism, as not writings survive, but the archaeological evidence gives some clues. Mithras was born out of a rock, or maybe a cave. He performed a miraculous act bringing water from a rock. He significantly killed a bull, as this scene is featured prominently in Mithraea. He met the sun god and feasted with him on the bull, and a common feast among the initiates of the faith seems to have been an important part of their ritualistic practice. Some have argued that Mithraism was an early rival to Christianity, but others say that Mithraism was not so widespread as to potentially become the dominant religion. Also, some claim that Christianity was simply a copy of Mithraism, and the story of Christ was patterned after the story of Mithras, but a little examination shows there is little to support this.

Dalai Lama

2011-12-03T09:45:00.001-05:00

The Dalai Lama, here in LEGO form by TheBrickMan, is a high leader in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. His followers believe that he is the physical manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and that he has been reincarnated fourteen times in order to continue leading his people to enlightenment. The current Dalai Lama has become an international leader, representing the Tibetan people in exile and speaking out in support of a number of issues.

Saint Peter

2011-12-02T10:31:00.001-05:00

"...on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16:18,19
Zgrredek gives us an interpretation of Saint Peter.

Bible too racy for Sam's Club

2011-11-27T08:47:00.001-05:00

Apparently Sam's Club rejected the Brick Testament. The company responded to inquiries saying "Sam's Club received numerous concerns from our members and parents about the mature content in what is perceived as a children's book. Accordingly, Sam's Club made a business decision to discontinue sales." It appears that the company got a few e-mails (or maybe just one?) complaining that Brendan is an atheist, and that on his website (NOT in the book) there were offensive depictions of sexual activity. Wow! Gee whiz! They've uncovered some deep dark secret that was, um, never a secret, and explicitly stated way back in 2001 (shoot, I missed celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the BT a month ago). There is a long discussion on Facebook where you can interact with the person that may be behind the initial complaints to Sam's Club.

BTW, while Brendan may have lost out here financially, since there will be fewer sales of his book (and to help remedy that, see below), IMO he won rhetorically. He has oft stated that one of his goals is to make people look at the Bible and judge it, not just go on the redacted version they got through Sunday School when they were little. Also IMO, I think both Brendan and small minded people like (IMO) the complainers here have a complete misunderstanding of the Bible. They all think that the Bible is meant to be a guide book for right living, full of upstanding moral examples. To Brendan the Bible fails at this, and so he rejects it. The complainers simply seek to ignore the failings of Biblical figures, and so stick to their Sunday School version. I'm sitting in my son's room right now as I type this (because I'm waiting for the baby to wake up and she's in the crib, okay, that was unneeded information), and there on the shelf is a Children's Bible with about twenty or so nice stories. I think that's what these complainers want the Bible to be. But it's not. The Bible is about God's quest to save a stupid, stubborn sinner like me (and you and you and you). God doesn't work through moral paragons, but through a deceiver like Jacob and an adulterer like David as the ancestors of Jesus, a bullheaded Peter as one of his closest friends and leader of his church, heck, the whole nation of Israel that was constantly turning away from Him to chase after other false gods. He did this so that none could boast that we were saved through our own righteousness, or that of our forebears. Any righteousness we might have is just dirty rags, as Paul writes. Instead, he saves us by pure grace, despite all of that. So, IMO, both Brendan and Tabitha Grace fall into the same pitfall. The Bible is not meant to be a perfect little book full of nice sayings, stories, and rules to live by. It is the story of God's encounter with humanity, a humanity that lusts, hates, covets, lies, kills, and ultimately denies that God. And yet He died on Calvary to save us.

Okay, end of sermon. I've shared these ideas before in discussions with Brendan on the old, now largely defunct, Lugnet, and in some of my reviews here. I disagree with him philosophically, and yet I love what he has built out of LEGO. If you're looking to buy the Brick Testament, perhaps as a Christmas gift for that AFOL in your life, you can go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:25:00.001-05:00

By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

This bust of Abraham Lincoln is on display at Legoland California.

Bible scenes contest

2011-11-23T18:17:00.001-05:00

I apologize for being away from blogging for the last three weeks. Anyway, in the meantime I missed the posting of the Lego Biblical Scenes Contest. You've got one more week to enter a scene in either the Old or New Testament categories. While this is short notice, at least those of my readers here in the US have a couple of days off from school or work, so maybe we can get some things going. For inspiration, let's take a look at my favorite of the entries so far, TheBricks' Ezekial and the Valley of Dry Bones. “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life." - Ezekial 37:4,5

Cristo Redentor

2011-11-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) looks out over Rio de Janeiro from high atop Mt. Corcovado. This 130 ft statue dominates the skyline and has become an icon of Rio and of Brazil in general. BTW, I like how this LEGO rendition by joaopaulo includes the cross in the pavement at the statue's feet.

Göbekli Tepe

2011-11-01T07:34:00.002-04:00

Gabriel Thomson's Göbekli Tepe recreates the archaeological site where the oldest known temple was discovered in Turkey.

Rather than try to give my own take here, I'll just quote Gabriel's description:

Gobekli Tepe (means "belly hill")is a hillside in Southeast Turkey, where the oldest known temple complex in the world was discovered in 1994 by a German archaeologist called Klaus Schmidt. It is a complex of 20 or so circular buildings of various ages, the oldest of which has been dated at 11,000 years old - to put that in perspective, that is 6000 years older than Stonehenge! It is so old that it predates both agriculture and metallurgy - as incredible at it seems, achaeologists believe these temples were constructed by nomadic hunter gatherers using only stone axes and flints. The giant T-shaped limestone megaliths that form the site are decorated with animal motifs in both shallow relief and also more sculptural forms. The spaces in between the megaliths were filled in with drystone walls, which often incorporated low benches in thier design. Nobody knows what type of religion or spirituality the makers of the temple had, but due to the frightening nature of the animal carvings, (which include vultures and lions) some speculate that it could have been a death cult or necropolis.
It has long been believed that neolithic societies only started to build such enduring temples once they had settled into complex agrarian communities; domesticating wildlife, making pottery and the like. However, the evidence at Gobekli Tepe presents a different picture altogether - a hunter gatherer society whos spiritual life led to them later settling in the area (possibly to maintain the temples they had built) and developing agrarian technologies. In short, thier religion lay at the very root of who they were to become - us.

Via the Brothers-Brick.

Happy Reformation Day

2011-10-31T10:53:00.003-04:00

Aha! You thought I was going to post a Halloween creation, didn't you? I suppose I could have, looking at the history of the Christian roots of All Hallow's Eve, or maybe at some of the Celtic roots of Samhain, but this day is also known as Reformation Day, remembering that October 31, 1517 was the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg church. BTW, little personal aside here, if you're traveling in Germany, Wittenberg and Wittenberge are two different towns. I spent a half a day waiting for the next train back to Berlin from Wittenberge, which is a lovely little town, but not really what I was trying to reach. Anyway, back to LEGO, Chris Wunz made this great version of Martin Luther at Wartburg. Since there was a price on his head, Martin Luther hid out at the castle of Wartburg (the domain of one of his patrons), where he worked on translating the Bible into German. He was working in this room. BTW, I can't help but think that Chris also drew some inspiration from Jojo's version of the same scene.

Bountiful Utah Temple

2011-10-24T05:28:00.000-04:00

Samuel Mirejovsky was asked to make a Mormon temple in LEGO form to help out with a children's class. The teacher was expecting some small creation, but he took the suggestion and ran with it, coming up with this 4ft by 4ft rendition of the Bountiful Utah Temple.

Hindu temple

2011-10-21T14:51:00.002-04:00

Anu Pehrson presented this gorgeous Hindu temple at BrickCon this year, where she appropriately won 'Best Architectural Style'. She explains the details:

This is an Ancient Temple from India. This is the Nagara style of Architecture which was fully developed in the 10th century. Such Temples exist till date and are very much in use as a place of worship and pilgrimage. In Hinduism the devotee offers flowers and fruit to the 'deity' as a form of worship. Therefore we always see stalls selling garlands, flowers and fruit outside a temple. A visit to the Temple is not a sombre event, and could be and evening outing for the family or a 'picnic' Therefore one finds a 'fair' like atmosphere around the entrance.

Walking on water

2011-10-12T16:23:00.000-04:00

"When they had rowed about three or four miles,[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened." - John 6:19, illustrated here by Brick Monster.

Plague of blood

2011-10-06T11:08:00.002-04:00

"Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. " Exodus 7:17

Lazer Blade illustrated Let my people go from the story of the ten plagues in Egypt.

Dragon Dance

2011-09-22T15:23:00.000-04:00

I often go back and forth on whether I should feature cultural practices that have some origin in religious belief at some point in the distant past. In some cases the LEGO creation is just too good to miss, as in Legohaulic's recent dragon dance scene. References to dragons go back 7,000 years in Chinese culture. Dragons were at some points seen as mythical beings associated with rivers, oceans, the weather, or other phenomena. There were temples devoted to the local dragons, where supplicants could ask for rain, or safe sea-journey, or for the river to not flood. Dragon imagery can be seen in temples and other religious art. Over time dragons became a symbol of China, of the emperor, of power, and dragons worked their way into Chinese culture. One aspect of this is the dragon dance, going back almost two millennia, where many dancers carry a long dragon puppet/costume through the streets as part of cultural festivals. Okay, so this is a pretty long ways from a religious MOC, but, as I said, it's way too cool for me to ignore:

Roskilde Cathedral

2011-09-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

Lasse Vestergard made this rendition of Roskilde Cathedral. This Lutheran Cathedral was built in Denmark in the 12th and 13th century. It was the first Gothic cathedral built of brick and helped spread the use of brick as a building material for churches in the region.

Ascension

2011-09-20T16:21:00.000-04:00

On the third day He rose again from the dead, ascended into Heaven ...

I assume that Milan Bikics' Ascension is a detail that will be worked into his wonderful in-progress St. Mirtin Cathedral.

Church service

2011-09-19T15:36:00.000-04:00

Last one from Wes Pitter, a praise band. I suppose some non-Christian readers of this blog may be unaware of this, but in the past twenty years there has been a real movement, especially in non-denominational Christian churches but in other denominations as well, away from some of the more traditional hymns played on organ and piano, to more modern (pop, rock) music played on guitars, drums, etc. If you've never read this, there's a hilarious story comparing hymns and praise songs in an agricultural setting. As someone who both loves the old hymns and also played bass in a praise band, I laughed quite a bit the first time I read that. BTW, Wes does go on to illustrate the whole church service - follow the link and read his descriptions.

Silent night

2011-09-18T15:33:00.000-04:00

Continuing around Wes Pitter's site, he has a nativity scene, placing the manger in a shepherds' cave.

Showdown on Mt. Carmel

2011-09-17T15:30:00.000-04:00

Looking around Wes Pitter's site, he also illustrated the Showdown on Mt. Carmel. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to prove whose god was the real God. Elijah won.

Fall

2011-09-16T15:28:00.000-04:00

Over on MOCpages, MOColympics 2011 is a contest that challenges builders to build in set themes. Round one suggests that builders choose one of the following: earth, air, wind, fire, winter, spring, summer, fall. You can take this in whatever direction you choose. Wes Pitter decided to use a different meaning of the Fall (from grace).

Cristo Redentor

2011-09-15T15:21:00.000-04:00

The 130 foot Cristo Redentor (here in LEGO by neilc73) has towered over Rio de Janeiro from atop Corcovado mountain for the past 80 years. Via the Brothers-Brick.

Young church

2011-09-14T07:40:00.000-04:00

I think I've been to Howsuch's church. A lot of the most exciting churches these days are not found in the large obvious cathedrals, but are rather these small start-ups meeting in non-traditional spaces.

Water walking

2011-09-13T07:33:00.000-04:00

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Legoorci illustrates Matthew 14:25-27.

Let my people go!

2011-09-11T15:38:00.002-04:00

SlyOwl gives us Moses and the Pharoah.

Pray

2011-09-11T08:33:00.007-04:00

Whatever your faith tradition, take time this morning to pray for those lost ten years ago today.

Trinity Church

2011-09-09T10:59:00.000-04:00

William Leue made this great rendition of Trinity Church from Albany, New York. Built in 1848 and designed by the same architect who made Saint Patrick's in NYC, This Episcopalian church was recently demolished due to serious structural damage caused by time and neglect.

Christchurch Cathedral

2011-09-08T15:41:00.000-04:00

LegomanNZ built his rendition of Christchurch Cathedral from his hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand, that was partially destroyed by an earthquake a year ago.

Mount Timpanogos Temple

2011-09-07T15:21:00.000-04:00

I've always loved religious architecture. My favorites are the gothic cathedrals from medieval Europe, and there are also many amazing mosques. In recent days, however, the Latter Day Saints are surely making some of the most beautiful houses of worship. A great example is Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, Utah, here in LEGO by Ben Watson.

Creator

2011-09-06T15:12:00.003-04:00

Sing along with me now -
He's got the whole world, in his hands,
He's got the whole wide world, in his hands,
He's got the whole world, in his hands,
He's got the whole world in his hands.

Piglet's Creator:

Sint NicolaasKerk

2011-09-02T00:23:00.002-04:00

Sint NicolaasKerk, here in digital form by raivb, is a Catholic church built in the 1800's in Amsterdam.

El Miguelete

2011-09-01T02:00:00.002-04:00

Sehjo_vlc made this great rendition of El Miguelete, the bell tower of the Cathedral of Valencia, Spain.

Selamat Idul Fitri

2011-08-31T01:25:00.002-04:00

Aripramz wishes us all a Selamat Idul Fitri, which is a traditional Indonesian greeting for the Eid (holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan). "Mohon maaf lahir dan batin" is a request for forgiveness - this holiday is a time to atone for the wrongs that you have done to others in the previous year. It is also a time to travel to see relatives, and the 'musafeer' or traveler depicted here must be doing that.

BTW, that image to the right of the LEGO picture is ketupat, an Indonesian food where rice is boiled inside a pouch made of woven palm leaves, as this is a characteristic dish eaten at Eid celebrations in Indonesia.

Ramadan Mubarak

2011-08-30T11:01:00.002-04:00

I'd like to wish all of our Muslim readers a blessed conclusion to their Ramadan. For today, let's take a look at this mosque in Legoland Billund. I do not know if this is a reproduction of an actual structure, but I kind of assume it is since most of those Miniland displays are. So if someone knows exactly what is depicted here I'd love to know.

Cowherd and Weaver Girl

2011-08-21T10:39:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I debate whether a MOC is truly about a religious subject, or would better be characterized as a cultural practice. For example, the Danish holiday Sankt Hans aften I blogged here earlier this month. The Chinese folktale Cowherd and Weaver Girl (here depicted by Tigerggyy) is one of these. As the story goes, the daughter of the Jade Emperor (one of the chief gods in Chinese traditional religion and also in Taoism) fell in love with a mortal cowherd. They were separated by the river of the Milky Way, but once a year the Jade Emperor allows them to meet on a bridge across the river. That day is called the Qixi Festival, the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day.

Pagoda

2011-08-19T10:30:00.002-04:00

Matija Grguric continues to build great MOCs, such as this pagoda. The design comes from Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto.

Moai

2011-08-17T10:23:00.002-04:00

As I understood it, the significance of the Moai of Easter Island (here in LEGO by Matija Grguric) was unclear. Wikipedia suggests they represented deified ancestors.

Kościół Mariacki

2011-08-15T09:20:00.002-04:00

The Kościół Mariacki, or St. Mary's Basillica (here by Diabel), was built in Krakow in the 13th century and then rebuilt in the 14th. Every hour a trumpet signal plays from the taller tower, commemorating the 13th century trumpeter who was killed while sounding the alarm of the oncoming Mongol attackers.

Star and crescent

2011-08-13T16:44:00.002-04:00

Eilonwy77 is a master at mosaics and patterns using LEGO. She was recently challenged to come up with the star and crescent symbols of Islam. While a six-pointed star is more commonly associated with Judaism, she says that in researching this she found some examples with six and eight-pointed stars rather than the more common five-pointed star. For the non-LEGO builders who may read this, the 36 degree angle for a five-pointed star is pretty much impossible* at this scale with LEGO pieces.

*Of course, that raises this as a challenge to all you builders out there.

Pantheon

2011-08-11T10:43:00.002-04:00

The Pantheon (here built in the style of the Architecture line by Victor Martinez Nouvilas) was built in 126 and dedicated to all the gods of Rome. Later it was reconsecrated as a Catholic church, and is still used today.

Westminster Abbey

2011-08-09T11:13:00.002-04:00

One last detail from the Westminster Abbey shows the high altar.

Westminster Abbey

2011-08-08T11:11:00.001-04:00

Another detail from the Westminster Abbey MOC shows the great West Door.

Westminster Abbey

2011-08-07T11:09:00.002-04:00

This cutaway of the massive Westminster Abbey MOC displayed at AFOLcon shows the architectural details.

Westminster Abbey

2011-08-06T11:04:00.002-04:00

How in the world did I not post this Westminster Abbey to GodBricks? I put it on the front page of Classic-Castle, but I guess it was when I was completely backed up on my blogs. Anyway, this was built by a group of British AFOLs and displayed at the AFOLcon gathering just before the wedding of William and Kate in Westminster Abbey, and now it will be displayed at various LEGO events around Europe.

Tibetan temple

2011-08-05T05:34:00.002-04:00

Matija Grguric made this beautiful Tibetan temple.

Long Hu

2011-08-03T14:38:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if I should be featuring this here or not. The Long Hu Tower, or Dragon Tiger Tower is named after Long Hu Mountain in China, a holy region seen as one of the birthplaces of Taoism. I don't know if these towers in Taiwan have any religious significance, or if they are more of a tourist destination.

Sankt Hans aften

2011-08-01T14:26:00.003-04:00

In Denmark, Midsummer's eve is called Sankt Hans aften, or Saint John's Eve. It's not a religious holiday, but the traditions reach back to religious roots. The day is named for the feast day of John the Baptist. Bonfires date back to Viking beliefs that these would drive away evil spirits. Witches are burned in effigy, remembering the witch burnings of centuries past.

Giant Buddha of Changhua

2011-07-30T13:29:00.004-04:00

A giant Buddha looks over Changhua City, Taiwan, from atop Bagua Mountain. This LEGO version is part of a huge map of Taiwan on public display (perhaps built by TWLUG members?). - Edit: I guess this is part of an official LEGO display.

Ark of the Covenant

2011-07-28T22:48:00.000-04:00

Matt Armstrong made a version of the Ark of the Covenant

Mosque

2011-07-26T22:45:00.001-04:00

\/\/\/\/\/\ made this mosque.

Brick Testament Book

2011-07-24T07:33:00.003-04:00

I missed the announcement before, but Brendan Powell Smith is coming out with a new Brick Testament Book, that will cover a large chunk of the Old Testament.

He's also posted some new chapters from Genesis (or are these remakes of previous chapters? I don't remember for sure). Today let's look at the first two:

Isaac Marries Rebekah - As always with Brendan these are very well done, and he uses new figures and torsos that weren't available to him when he last covered this part of Genesis. My favorite build detail is how he made kneeling camels. I also like how he came up with 4 different sizes of children in Gen 25:1-3.

Isaac Deceives Abimelech (aka 'Ah, Abimelech, will you never learn?') - He highlights the humor in that this is largely a rehash of a previous event. The combination of various white and blue elements is really cool, as is the perspective in this scene.

Transfiguration

2011-07-20T13:03:00.002-04:00

Cody G. shows us his LEGO interpretation of the transfiguration of Jesus. As described in three of the Gospels, Jesus went with Peter, James and John up onto a mountain. While there, they saw him filled with glory, and conversing with Moses and Elijah. The Gospel accounts don't mention them rising into the air (unless I'm misremembering, but I didn't see it in a quick skim over the relevant passages), but (at least to me), by raising the three figures up, Cody's MOC points ahead to Christ on the cross. Of course, the symbolism breaks down in that would make Moses and Elijah into the two criminals, but I like the visual connection it makes between Christ's glory and his sacrifice.

BTW, I apologize for the month+ hiatus in this blog. I've been quite busy with work and with life lately.

Garrison of Moriah

2011-06-01T14:59:00.003-04:00

Gerry Burrows has built a massive sci-fi city that fills an entire room, and he's gotten a fair amount of press around the inter-tubes. Why link it here? Well, the Garrison of Moriah is named for the mountain where Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac. At one point in the citadel there is a cross. In the battle arena, instead of the common sign citing John 3:16, we see references to more martial passages, like Isaiah 42:13 "The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies." and Psalm 18:34 "He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms."

Mother Teresa

2011-05-29T13:59:00.000-04:00

Mother Teresa (here by Constant Concepts) is the modern exemplar of love for the needy. Born in Albania, she joined the Sisters of Loreto when she was 18. She was sent to India as a missionary, where she was moved by the extreme poverty she found in Calcutta, where she founded the Missionaries of Calcutta. She spent the rest of her life (dying in 1997) ministering to and advocating for the poorest of the poor. She said that "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

Saint Francis of Assisi

2011-05-27T13:51:00.002-04:00

Saint Francis (here by Constant Concepts) was born in Assisi near the end of the 12th century. On pilgrimage to Rome he found a connection with the poor and committed himself to a life of poverty. He founded the religious order named for him that continues to this day, following his example of forsaking worldly wealth. Among other things, he is known for his love for nature and is said to have preached to the birds. He also traveled to Egypt to preach the Christian gospel to the Sultan of Egypt.

Zen

2011-05-25T13:07:00.001-04:00

The Zen school of Buddhism emphasizes direct self-realization through meditation and dharma practice, illustrated here by Capnbootle.

Rapture?

2011-05-21T20:01:00.002-04:00

As most of you have probably noticed, the Rapture did not take place today. Some time ago, RebelRock reminded everyone that when the rapture comes, don't forget your monkey.

BTW, you notice that I waited until well after the appointed time to post this. ;) Actually, I've just been busy.

Saint Johannes Church

2011-05-19T06:27:00.001-04:00

Legorianer and Legocastle made this version of St Johannes Church from Osnabrueck, Germany, built in the late 13th century.

Interview with Alyska Bailey Peterson

2011-05-17T10:20:00.003-04:00

After featuring Alyska Bailey Peterson's (aka PointyKitty) beautiful stained glass MOCs several times recently, I really wanted to learn more. So it's my pleasure to bring you another interview, from Pointy Kitty Studios in Madison Wisconsin.

GodBricks: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, including the background of your interest in art and in LEGO?

Alyska Bailey Peterson: My arts background is a bit varied – I have degrees in documentary film production and commercial photography, worked professionally for about a decade in marketing and event photography, and now have been focusing my studio's offerings on two particular niches: earthy, handmade gemstone and metalsmithed jewelry, and more recently, jury slides and marketing/branding materials for other artists.

I’ve been interested in Legos since I was a kid, and used to beg for them instead of the “girl toy” in my McDonalds Happy Meals, but I really started exploring the medium and working with them again a couple of years ago after hearing about my friends’ and partners’ experience at the Brickworld convention in Chicago, IL.

When trying to decide what sort of building I wanted to get back into, one of them joked about me “liking to do things the hard way,” after I mentioned building in Modulex, and I settled on transparent bricks as something challenging (I like a challenge!) but still mostly-accessible.

GB: We've featured a number of your LEGO renditions of stained glass windows here on GodBricks. Did you first become interested in these for their artistic merit, their religious significance, or some combination of these?

ABP: My first exposure to stained glass work was in churches, first as a young child, but especially when, as a teen, my youth group attended services of different denominations and faiths to help us better understand the context of each group’s belief systems.

The windows were striking examples of visual storytelling, which was a huge draw for me, and I found it interesting that despite the widely varying belief systems of the different services we attended (both in their message, and the manner in which they were communicated to their followers), these colorful glass window-stories were a common thread between all of them.

My grandfather was also a self-taught stained glass artisan, and had just started teaching me the craft when he passed away about a decade ago. While I have never attained any proficiency at actual stained glass work, I often wonder what he would think of my Lego renditions.

GB: Tell us about the Survivors of Trauma window. What drew you to this piece? What is it's significance to you?

ABP: This window was significant to me for a number of different reasons. The tree of life itself has long been important to me as a metaphor for the interconnectedness of all life on our planet and for the livelihood and resilience of the human spirit. The majority of my family tree also originates in Ireland.

When I was able to discern the actual geographic location of the window and read the Survivors of Trauma Center’s mission “to assist those affected by the troubles in North Belfast and help them transition from victims to survivors, empowering them to become vibrant once again,” there was an additional layer of meaning for me, as I am a trauma survivor myself.

GB: How about the creation series? How did you choose to take on this project?

ABP: The theme for the 2011 Brickworld convention is “Five,” and so I started looking for something that I could work on in a series. After flipping through a number of books, and looking at pictures online, I came across Aidan McRae Thomson’s Creation series on their Flickr stream while looking at other religious stained glass windows in Ireland and Great Britain.

The windows were gorgeous – visually striking, and I thought they’d translate well into Lego. The only problem is that there are six days in the Creation Story!

As I went through Thomson’s images of his work, it was that final day, the creation of man and beasts, that would be the most difficult to translate into Lego due partly to the color palette, but moreso due to all of the painting on the glass!

I’ve noodled around some with trying to find a way to do justice to translating that final panel into Lego, but haven’t found anything satisfactory yet, and I’m a terrible perfectionist.

GB: Is there a particular day of creation that is your favorite? Or one that is a particular challenge?

ABP: I like all of them for different reasons, but I think Day Four, the Sun & Moon panel is my favorite.

As for the most challenging? That would have to be Day One: Light and Dark.

The building of the piece itself was no more difficult than any of the other panels, but the transparent purple and transparent light blue bricks are nearly a decade out of print, so I’ve spent the better part of a year repeatedly clearing out the secondary market on multiple continents to simply get enough pieces to complete the piece!

GB: At some points in your stained glass recreations you use transparent bricks, and at other points you use transparent plates, to get a different texture effect. How did you come upon this technique?

ABP: Mostly, by necessity. In some cases, not all parts come in all colors. In other cases, I used plates instead of bricks to either attain more detail or smoother lines, or to create deeper or lighter colors.

When I started with the creation windows, I realized that I’d need to be even more creative than working in a brick-and-plate-only palette to achieve some of the necessary colors, and started working in round bricks and plates, cones, tiles, and cheese wedges to help vary textures and colors.

GB: Centuries ago, stained glass windows in churches served a didactic purpose to teach a largely illiterate congregation stories from the Bible, or of the saints. Does your work have any message?

ABP: I don’t have any specific message attached to the pieces I do, aside from showing that Lego is a creation and building medium that can be utilized long after your teen years, and is limited only by what you, the creator, can come up with.

I love all of the sets that Lego produces, but find it really remarkable what happens when some really creative people set aside the instruction books, and just..build. Put us all in a room together, and it’s amazing the sorts of things we create.

GB: What's next for you in this area? Are you planning on doing day 6? Do you have other stained glass windows in mind?

ABP: In addition to the Creation series, I’m currently finishing up a large 2x4’ stained glass spectrum sundial to exhibit at Brickworld 2011 in Chicago, IL, in June.

After that, I’m looking at doing the “Scientists and Technicians Window” at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. It’s on the south side of the cathedral, just west of the tomb of Woodrow Wilson.

The window commemorates America’s exploration of space and man’s first steps on the moon. In the upper center of the window is a 7.18-gram basalt lunar rock from the Sea of Tranquility!

Once again, a huge thanks to Alyska, both for the interview and also for sharing her wonderful MOCs with us. If you're going to BrickWorld in Chicago next month, be sure to check out her work in person.

Huí

2011-05-17T03:54:00.002-04:00

When I think of Islam, I generally don't think of China, but the Huí people are 10-million strong in China, largely in the western regions closer to those countries more traditionally associated with Islam. While this term is fairly broad in scope, many of these Chinese Muslims probably descended from traders coming along the Silk Road from Persia, who ended up settling and intermarrying, eventually converting their communities to Islam. Here the Empress of Blandings shows us the Chinese character for Huí (which also has other meanings, such as to turn around or go back).

Interview with Mezba Mahtab

2011-05-09T11:46:00.004-04:00

I'm very happy to bring you another interview. This time, let's learn some more about Mezba Mahtab. Perhaps inevitably, since so much of the LEGO community is found in Europe and North America, this blog tends to tilt towards Christian-themed MOCs (also, I'm sure my own religious bias plays a role in what I select). There aren't very many Islamic-themed LEGO sites out there. One of the most extensive is Mezba's Teaching Kids the Holy Quran, which illustrates passages from the Quran using LEGO. I asked him to tell us more about that project, and also just about himself as a Muslim and an AFOL.

Godbricks: Let's start out with learning something about you. Where are you from and what's your religious background? Were you raised in the Muslim faith, or is it something you came to more recently?

Mezba Mahtab: I was born a Bangladeshi, and brought up in the Middle East. My family moved to Toronto, Canada when I was 18. I was raised as a practicing Muslim, but what may interest many people is that I have learned more about being a Muslim and about Islam by living in Canada. Living with, and having the lovely opportunity of meeting with people of various faiths and cultures often means we grow more curious about our own.

GB: How about your background with LEGO? Has this hobby always been a part of your life? Did you go through any sort of Dark Age?

MM: I have to credit my wife for bringing me out of my two-decade-long Dark Ages. As a kid, I grew up with plenty of LEGO. My first set was the LEGO 6374-1 (Holiday Home), a set I still have, in addition to various Pirate and LEGO System sets. However, for twenty years, LEGO lay as some forgotten chapter of my life, until early last year.

On our anniversary, my wife surprised me with Brickbeard’s Bounty (LEGO 6243-1), having once heard how I had often wanted a LEGO ship as a kid. Suddenly, it was as if I was ten, and suddenly my LEGO collection had grown tenfold – and then I discovered sales, clearances, and the wonderful AFOL community. I sometimes think my wife regrets getting me that gift, especially after I found out about Bricklink!

GB: What led you to combine your Islamic faith and your LEGO hobby?

MM: I think it was a natural progression that combined my hobbies of blogging, photography and LEGO. I have a personal blog (a Bengali in T.O.) where many times I have discussed (sometimes controversial) topics related to Islam and Muslims. I often find that the Quran is being quoted out of context to make a point, even by Muslims.

Just to give you an example, most sane people would say that Muslims and non-Muslims should live together in harmony and in friendship. Yet there are some people who claim the two groups cannot be friends, and they point to verse 1 from chapter 60 in the Quran. In there, God is telling the Muslims, “Do not take My enemy and your enemy as friends (or protectors)”.

Yet, as my rendering shows, the context of how the verse was revealed, the application of it, and the VERY NEXT VERSE (verse 8) that immediately clarify it, all leads to a much more practical, moderate, and saner conclusion.

I therefore thought, and thought hard, of how I could have an interesting medium to preach the Quran and its moderate message, and this led me to toys, and LEGO.

GB: Could you describe for us the concept behind Teaching Kids the Holy Quran? What is your goal and how did you start this project?

MM: To answer this, you have to understand that one of the quirks about being Muslim is that we believe faith alone is not enough; we also have to have good actions and do acts of worship for eternal salvation. For this reason, we are taught at an early age how to read the Quran (as an act of worship). Basically, we learn to read the Arabic script, and most of us can recite the Arabic verses, without knowing or understanding ANY of it.

So when I wanted to develop a medium to help Muslims understand the Quran, I wanted to reach kids, because they are most inquisitive, and as a kid I remember being curious myself as to what these verses meant. LEGO seemed a perfect fit.

I started this project when I purchased the Prince of Persia sets. The character of Nizam seemed great as a villain, which I needed for my first rendering (Chapter 107, which dealt with Alms Giving).

At that time, the blog was more of a Quran project than a LEGO project, and so was quite minimalistic in nature. Even though I had come out of my Dark Ages, I hadn’t done a lot of building of MOCs; it was mostly building official sets. For my project, I used minifigures and some basic builds. However, as this blog has progressed, I have started to include more and more LEGO details into my work.

GB: What sort of reception have you gotten from the Islamic community? What sort of reception have you gotten from the LEGO community? Have you received any criticism?

MM: I have to say the reception from the Islamic community has been fantastic. I started the blog in October 2010, and already the blog averages anywhere between 100 to 300 daily visits, with the highest daily visitor count close to 500. My Facebook page, started quite recently, has already over 250 fans. MuslimMatters, the no.1 Muslim blog, as voted by the renowned Brass Crescent, had just picked my blog as Art of the Month in January. Two teachers in private schools in Ontario, Canada, as well as teachers in Abu Dhabi, UAE, have emailed me that they use my blog as visual aids in their classrooms. The blog has also been linked to from numerous blogs, as stated on my “Mentions” page.

I feel my blog still has a lot of potential to grow in the LEGO community. Till this time, most of my efforts to promote the blog has been in the Muslim blogosphere and Islamic forums. I felt that, to be taken seriously, the blog has to first achieve credibility and acceptance from the Muslim community at large, which has happened. So far, my work is quite unique; there are no blogs or websites that combine Islam and LEGO like I do.

I feel that, to get much more prominence in the larger LEGO community, I have to build more and include more LEGO architecture in the details. Till now, I had been in graduate school, which is now done, so I have more time on my hands to devote to this project. There are two huge chapters in the Quran that are coming up on my blog soon; one of them deals with the story of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph in the Bible), that I plan to build with lots and lots of details.

I am pleased that due to my strict adherence to some guidelines, I have not run into much controversy or criticism with my project yet.

GB: You mentioned that you may turn this into a book. Could you give us any more on this? Is this something we can expect to find in bookstores soon?

MM: It is every bloggers’ dream to have their work published as a best seller book, is it not? :-) I see a lot of potential in this – most of the fans on my Facebook page are Muslim mothers with young families, and they love it as they can use it to teach their children. Every kid loves LEGO and toys, and there isn’t a similar Islamic project online.

I have already been in talks with a couple of publishers of children’s books, so do wish me luck, hopefully we can get something out soon.

GB: Many of our readers are familiar with the Brick Testament, where Brendan uses minifigs to depict Jesus and other Biblical characters, but my understanding is that Islam frowns upon depictions of individuals, or at least of certain individuals (e.g. the Prophet Muhammad). How has that limited you? Or how have you found creative ways to work around this?

Islam does frown upon on depicting notable figures or other Beings such as God or angels in sculptures and other depictions; however if you look at Islamic history they have had a rich history of great art work. I think the original dislike of depicting notable historical figures is that it leads to some form of idolatry – the example often cited is that in historic times people did not worship Krishna or Buddha as gods, yet made sculptures to remember them. Later generations then went to the next level and started to worship these idols. Thus, even when Hollywood movies such as The Message was released, the character of Prophet Muhammad, or his immediate family such as Ali, or close friends such as Umar, were not depicted or shown on screen.

I have devised some guidelines of my own that I follow in my portrayals, which while not limiting, makes the depictions more creatively challenging. Take the example of the Islamic story of Christmas where I had to show Maryam (Mary) and the birth of Isa (Jesus Christ) without depicting either of them.

I also know from general experience that when Muslims are viewing an art work telling Islamic stories, they will allow certain leeway (for example portraying some of the Companions of the Prophet) while having certain reservations (such as definitely NOT portraying the Prophet Muhammad or his immediate family). As an artist who is working to benefit understanding of Islam, I have to respect those objections.

GB: Is there an illustration of the Quran on your site that you are particularly proud of?

MM: I particularly like Chapter 105 (The Elephant), as the depictions follow very closely with the aims of this blog – it’s a good story told in a simple projection, easy enough for kids to understand while also good enough for adults.

Most of the Chapters that I started building are small chapters, usually the first ones taught to Muslim kids to memorize, and contain a small number of verses. The Chapter (The Cave), which amongst others deals with the stories of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, the Gog and Magog, the Green One and the legendary character known as Zul Qarnayn, had over a 100 verses – that was the largest chapter done completely so far on my blog.

In my graduate school last year, we were studying the financial crisis of 2008, and this is when I started to build Chapter 83 – the Defrauders (http://readwithmeaning.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/chapter-83-al-mutaffifin-the-defrauders-verses-1-6/ ), and what most pleased me about this chapter was how I managed to portray ancient verses in a modern setting.

GB: Is there a passage of the Quran that gave you particular difficulties, or that you skipped because it was too difficult to depict in LEGO form?

There is a chapter in the Quran that deals with God Himself (Chapter 112) that was hard to portray following my guidelines, as it was just about God (and the Islamic rejection of Trinity). So I took the aid of characters in a multi-faith setting to illustrate that chapter.

A challenge (in general) in depicting Quranic verses is that unlike the Bible, which is a collection of linear historic stories or personal accounts of historic events in chronological order, the Quran is more of a conversation between God and man. It’s Allah’s instructions to Muslims, and the flow is not always of events or stories in order. For example, Allah will be talking about unbelievers and the arrogance of oppressors, and then you will have the story of Pharoah and the tribes of Israel. In other places, God talks about how to deal with hardships, and then the story of Ayub (Job in the Bible), or how Yusuf (Joseph) was imprisoned, will be mentioned. So the stories in Quran are more to illustrate God’s instructions, or to provide an example for people to relate with, as God is relating certain commandments. Thus, when portraying these verses, which sometimes jump across various related stories, I have to keep the flow in mind for the depictions.

An example of this was Chapter 18 (The Cave), which talks about Trinity, Faith, oppressors, Pride, denial of God, etc. all in one chapter, and there are many sub-story branches within.

GB: What's next for you? Do you see the Teaching Kids the Holy Quran project going on for a long time in the future? Or do you have another project in the works?

MM: Right now I plan to be committed to the Teaching Kids the Holy Quran project for the conceivable future; time and opportunity permitting. Currently, the blog holds just over 450 illustrations of over 21 chapters of the Quran. The Quran has a total of 114 chapters, containing over 6000 verses in all, so there is clearly a long way to go.

GB: A couple of questions apart from your site, but just for you as a Muslim and a LEGO fan: A few years ago there were some in the Muslim world who called for a boycott on LEGO and all things Danish in the wake of the controversy (and violence) following a series of cartoons in a Danish newspaper. Has that gone away, or is there still some suspicion of LEGO?

MM: In my opinion, the Muslim world is too big and diverse to have a unified stance on this; we saw that most of the boycotts came from the affluent Gulf Arab countries, while, sadly, the violent reactions came from poor communities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I was visiting the United Arab Emirates during the cartoon crisis, and remember going into Carrefour (which coincidentally is a European owned store). They had an empty shelf that used to contain dairy products from Denmark, with a sign saying this was due to the boycott. I do NOT remember there being a boycott of LEGO though – the boycott seemed to be restricted to dairy products, and that too in Western owned stores. I was in UAE again a couple of months ago, and saw LEGO being sold in Dubai Mall at the Hamley’s store. Most of the rhetoric against LEGO seemed to come from a few loudmouth radicals, with hardly any noticeable consequence. I think the Muslim world in general has moved on from the cartoon crisis.

GB: On the other hand, two of the upcoming LEGOland parks will be in primarily Muslim countries (Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates). Do you see LEGO as becoming more popular outside of its traditional European and American markets (I realize you're in Canada, but you probably have a much greater insight into this than I do)?

MM: I think it’s a fantastic idea. UAE and Malaysia are both excellent tourist destinations with lots of visitors, and I can see LEGOland doing quite well. Many Asian countries such as India have a growing middle class with greater disposable income, so there is no reason why LEGO shouldn’t do well. However it needs to differentiate itself from other ‘block’ companies. Many people in Asia still see LEGO as just another construction toy, not the construction toy.

GB: GodBricks readers are very familiar with LEGO depictions of many of the great Christian cathedrals. On the other hand, there are so many beautiful mosques that would make amazing MOCs. Is there a particular mosque that you would love to see made in LEGO form? Or one that has already been made in LEGO?

MM: I would love to see the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE, being made into a LEGO. It’s grand enough to be visually dazzling, yet simplistic enough in its design to be easily converted to LEGO. I visited the mosque in January and was amazed at the splendid architecture.

A couple of other mosques that can be converted to LEGO and would look dazzling would be the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, Turkey or the Jama Masjid of Delhi, India.

GB: Thanks for all your responses! Before we go, since most of my readers are probably not Muslim, is there one message you would like them to hear about Islam or the Quran?

MM: First of all, I would like to offer my thanks for giving me this opportunity to share a bit of my work and project with you and your readers. Long before I started this project, I followed your blog and the amazing links you share.

Second, for any non-Muslims who are curious about Islam, I would like to say that the Quran is only about one central message – there is One God and He alone should be worshiped without any partners, and Muhammad was sent to preach that Message, just like previous prophets Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus). This message doesn’t leave much room for violence, and I invite everyone to read and judge the Quran themselves. And for explanations about historical context and explanations, they can visit my blog.

Regards,
Mezba

Small church

2011-05-09T02:05:00.000-04:00

Kris Kelvin made this small church for Brother Robotius, the last space missionary.

Friday

2011-05-06T10:37:00.003-04:00

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. - Genesis 1:24-31

Since Alyska hasn't yet made the sixth window in her Creation series, I figured I'd finish up the week with Brendan Powell Smith's rendition of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam.

Thursday

2011-05-05T04:00:00.001-04:00

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. - Genesis 1:20-23

Alyska Bailey Peterson built this LEGO Creation window based on a series of stained glass windows from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bilton, Warwickshire.

Wednesday

2011-05-04T04:00:00.001-04:00

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. - Genesis 1:14-19

Alyska Bailey Peterson built this LEGO Creation window based on a series of stained glass windows from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bilton, Warwickshire.

Tuesday

2011-05-03T04:00:00.000-04:00

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. - Genesis 1:9-13

Alyska Bailey Peterson built this LEGO Creation window based on a series of stained glass windows from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bilton, Warwickshire.

Monday

2011-05-02T04:00:00.000-04:00

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. - Genesis 1:6-8

Alyska Bailey Peterson built this LEGO Creation window based on a series of stained glass windows from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bilton, Warwickshire.

Sunday

2011-05-01T04:00:00.000-04:00

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. - Genesis 1:1-5

Alyska Bailey Peterson built this LEGO Creation window based on a series of stained glass windows from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bilton, Warwickshire.

John Paul II

2011-04-30T23:12:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow Pope Benedict is set to beatify his predecessor in the pontificate, John Paul II. Beatification is official recognition by the Catholic Church that an individual is in Heaven and can intercede with God. This is the last step before declaring someone a saint. John Paul II was known for his travels, visiting 129 countries while he was Pope, and he often rode in the Popemobile (here by Esbenkolind) so he could greet the crowds. After the attempt on his life in 1981, the vehicle was fitted with bulletproof glass.

Next year in Jerusalem

2011-04-30T01:57:00.002-04:00

JStrouse made a version of Jerusalem from about 1000 BC, including the city walls, David's Palace, and of course the Temple on Mount Zion.

1077

2011-04-28T01:17:00.002-04:00

During the middle ages, there was a constant back and forth between the church in Rome and local political authorities over who would control the power. At one point, Pope Gregory VII declared that as God was the sole source of authority, the Pope could choose to remove any sitting emperor. For his part, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV of Germany felt that he could appoint church officials, and threatened to remove his support for Gregory as Pope. Gregory excommunicated Henry, and in 1077 (here by Jojo), Henry traveled to Canossa, where he did penance and received forgiveness from the Pope. A few years later, though, Henry invaded Rome and forced Gregory to flee.

Saint Basil's

2011-04-26T22:55:00.002-04:00

Schneider Cheung built a great LEGO rendition of Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, more commonly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral. This cathedral was originally built in the mid-16th century on the order of Ivan IV (aka Ivan the Terrible), to commemorate a military victory. The design features a central sanctuary (commemorating the intercession of Mary) surrounded by eight additional sanctuaries (each commemorating a Biblical event or a particular saint), each with it's own onion-dome-topped tower. A tenth sanctuary was added later to house the tomb of local Saint Vasily (Basil).

Empty tomb

2011-04-25T00:52:00.002-04:00

Building on the word of God - that's what kids at First United Methodist of Pittsburg, Kansas are doing. Sunday school teacher Dorcia Johnson has her kids building LEGO models as a way to connect with events from the life of Jesus, including this large-scale empty tomb, on display at the church during Holy Week events.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T06:36:00.001-04:00

He is risen!, by Chris Wunz

Good Friday

2011-04-22T21:16:00.001-04:00

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-- one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." -Luke 23:33-34
Easter in LEGO by Steve Adamson.

Church of Saint Hedwig

2011-04-13T15:53:00.002-04:00

The Church of Saint Hedwig in Opava, Czech Republic (here depicted in LEGO form by Hana129) has a history as interesting as it looks. Construction was begun on this cubist design in 1933, but in 1938 German troops moved in. They used the church itself as a weapons storehouse and the tower as a lookout. Under Communist rule it continued to be used as a storehouse for medical equipment. It was only after the collapse of Soviet control that it could return to its original use. The church was consecrated in 1993 and the final details (e.g. the cross on the tower) were completed in 1999. I see this as a sign or renewal that this site ultimately was redeemed after the two oppressive regimes that interrupted its intended use.

Journey to the West

2011-04-10T07:09:00.002-04:00

I've previously noted MOCs based on Journey to the West, a Chinese novel about the journeys of a Buddhist monk that also act as an allegory of the spiritual life. James37918130 has his own version of the characters: the Monkey King, the monk Yuanzang, the half-man half-pig Zhu Bajie and the sand demon Sha Wujing.

COB

2011-04-05T21:17:00.000-04:00

Just after posting the Salt Lake Temple, the spiritual heart of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I also found another building from Temple Square in Salt Lake City by another builder, StevePoulsen. The Church Office Building is the administrative heart of the Mormon organization, helping coordinate their ministries all around the world.

Praying Hands

2011-04-04T14:56:00.002-04:00

Albrecht Dürer was a German painter and mathematician who is often considered the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. In the early 16th century he was commissioned to create an altarpiece based on the Assumption of Mary. Unfortunately the altarpiece was destroyed in a fire, but a copy survives, as do many of his preliminary sketches. One of these, the Praying Hands (here turned into a LEGO sculpture by Raphael Heusser) has been repeatedly reproduced and gained popularity. I'm guessing from looking at the copy of the altarpiece that these hands were to become those of the martyred figure in the left-hand panel.

Salt Lake Temple

2011-04-02T17:01:00.002-04:00

Central Salt Lake City is dominated by the Salt Lake Temple (here built by Xarquar), which is the largest Temple of the LDS and also home to the President and the Quorum of the Twelve, the leaders of the church.

The Playmo Testament

2011-04-01T16:46:00.002-04:00

Markus Bomhard, a German priest began a project to illustrate biblical scenes with Playmo figures. His endeavor even earned favorable mention from the Pope. However, the fine lawyers at Playmo brought suit, and so the Klicky Bibel has been taken down. It may be back again someday in a different form.

I hesitate to bring it up, in fear of additional lawsuits, but it appears that another similar project is also available, the Playmobible.

Marmorkirchen

2011-03-31T12:47:00.003-04:00

Visitors to the recent LEGO World exposition in Copenhagen were able to see Chris Behrens' rendition of the Marmorkirken, or Marble Church. This Danish church (officially Frederick's Church) was begun in 1749, but was left unfinished for well over a century, finally opening in 1894. Chris' LEGO version includes a fully furnished interior, with altar, pews and organ, so be sure to click through to see the whole gallery.

Modern church

2011-03-26T02:12:00.002-04:00

I tend to feature MOCs of churches from many years ago - often Gothic structures - but Juergen Bartosch gave his take on St Peter's from Heimstetten near Munich,

Brick Bash

2011-03-24T10:20:00.003-04:00

LEGO builders periodically gather at local meetings and at large national and even international conventions. These often include public exhibitions where people can come see the cool models. One recent exhibition was Brick Bash, held in Michigan this past Saturday. Among the works on display were some of Arthur Gugick's microscale reproductions of famous landmarks, such as Notre Dame and Mont St Michel, seen here.

Masjid al-Haram

2011-03-22T10:30:00.002-04:00

At the center of Islam stands the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. This is the largest mosque in the world, and in the center of the large central courtyard sits the Kaaba, which Muslims believe was constructed by Abraham and Ishmael. One of the central tenets of Islam is the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, and the Masjid al-Haram can hold up to 4,000,000 worshipers coming from all over the globe.

This micro reproduction is by Aqs08.