“Here, sir, the people govern.” So said Alexander Hamilton as engraved in the US Capitol in Washington DC. Chances are you’ve seen the Capitol in LEGO before, perhaps in the official release from the LEGO Architecture line, but you’ve never seen it like this. Assembled here from over 36,800 LEGO bricks over four months,  Rocco Buttliere‘s model of the Capitol is a masterclass in microscale landscaping and a breathtaking tribute to the heart of American democracy.

To differentiate from past builds of the landmark, Rocco chose to recreate the entire 100-acre grounds of the Capitol Campus, which includes the Capitol, Reflection Pool, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Botanic Garden, Capitol Steps, visitor center, and tree-lined paths. As with all of Rocco’s creations, the model is built at 1:650 scale, which posed unique challenges in capturing the appropriate detail. Some of Rocco’s solutions used delightfully surprising parts, such as fork facades, microphone lamps, and jewel fountains.

Rocco shows the Capitol at late March or early April when pink cherry blossoms come into bloom, adding an extra splash of color to the landscape. A mix of tree and lamp designs keep the grounds as interesting as the building itself.

Innovation with greenery extends to the Botanic Garden, which in real life is home to some 44,000 plants. While only 17 studs wide in Rocco’s model, the conservatory looks quite majestic with all of those clear cheese slopes and bionoculars in brick yellow above the arches.

To plan his elaborate architectural wonders, Rocco uses Studio. Here we get a glimpse of some of the SNOT tricks at play, and the workhouse piece of rounded structures, the 1×2 rounded plate, providing capital curves. Rocco’s clever use up upright wands is a genious lampole technique, and the recessed grille plates make perfect fences at this scale. As part of his funding model to support buildings like this, Rocco offers many more behind-the-scenes insights to his patrons.

Of course the piece de resistance here is the Capitol dome, stunningly realized from hundreds of eclectic elements. I see skeleton arms and minifig hands, inverted epaulettes and a Shakespearean collar. And so many tiny corinthian columns, enough to remind you of Rocco’s other incredible Capitoline display. The dome is capped with a custom mold of the Statue of Freedom, which Rocco also built at a larger scale as a reward for his sponsors.

There are plenty more details and designer insights to be seen on Rocco’s flickr album. Or perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to see the work in person as part of Rocco’s permanent collection (yes, kragle was used in the making of this model).