Tag Archives: Temple

Temple’s crowning glory

What is serenity? One definition — perfection of form, coupled with a strong and simple colour scheme. That’s exactly what we’ve got in this temple building by jaapxaap. The standout feature is the purple and gold roof, adorned with beautifully shaped corners and nicely offset tiling. Don’t miss how the shaping flows perfectly around the golden decorative elements, almost as if they were designed to fit the spaces, rather than the other way around. The stark grey structure is striking and forms a robust backdrop to the ornate roofing. There’s nice landscaping and foliage, along with some minifigures, placed around the model, but the colour choices are perfect — complementing, never distracting, from the model’s central subject.

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A samurai’s secluded retreat

The flower-laden gardens and open paddy fields that surround Rollon Smith’s Snake Samouraï Temple create a beautifully secluded retreat for the noble Japanese warrior. What I find really appealing about this scene is the way the well-selected decorative details, such as the serpent reliefs and the various printed tiles, are balanced against an obviously tended natural landscape.

Zooming in you find the minifigure inhabitants of the temple caught in the acts of harvesting rice, pruning plants and raking gravel; and it’s this little nod to Zen aesthetic practice that ultimately makes for such a satisfying build.

Explore the ruined grandeur of this ancient Mayan temple

Overflowing with architectural features, Noel Peterson’s El Templo de Uxmal revels in the crumbling splendour of the ancient Mayan civilisation. As you explore the ruins, you have to marvel at just how many different building techniques have been used: from the rings of brackets used to shape the distinctive holed blocks, to the row of modified bar elements inset to replicate relief carvings. The arrow head portal, made by off-setting cheese wedges, adds a spectacular focal point to the build that I particularly like. Noel’s attention to detail carries on throughout the model, creating weathering effects, age and a real sense of history everywhere you look.

Those who defy the feathered serpent

It seems strange that given how well-received LEGO creations of Mesoamerican architecture are, they are relatively rarely seen in the online LEGO building community, as if they were lost in a jungle. Hidden somewhere deep in the jungles of Flickr, an ancient temple built by Aaron Newman has been discovered, caught in the middle of a human sacrifice, which has angered Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent himself!

The temple serves as scenery for an engaging story hinted at by the builder in the photo’s description. The deity is beautifully sculpted and positioned, giving a convincing impression of graceful motion in the air. I love all the details across the temple, but the altar at the top is definetely the best part. A bit of greenery spilling around the temple and the excellent minifig action complete the scene, greatly aided by the very fitting and expressive background.

Mayan pyramid of El Castillo at Chichen Itza built from thousands of LEGO bricks

In the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, there’s one temple that rises above the rest as a focal point. The temple is called El Castillo, which means “The Castle,” and it was built to honor a Mayan diety called Kukulkan, or “Feathered Serpent.” Today it’s a major tourist attraction in Mexico and the subject of many pieces of art. This build by 1soko can be placed next to the others as a beautiful rendition of the temple.

The lines on the creation are incredibly impressive. If you’ve ever built something with slopes, you know just how hard it can be to get them right. (And this has slopes on slopes!) It almost looks like it could be superimposed on a picture of the real temple! The only thing that could be more detailed would be the serpent heads at the base of the stairs, but it’s understandable at this scale. Actually, it would need to be many times larger to be the scale of the minifigure standing next to it. Of course, the builder was probably using the character as a size comparison. In any case, this creation is simply outstanding!

A terrific and terse temple

Meriamm-Webster says that terse means “using few words : devoid of superfluity” or alternatively “smoothly elegant”. Andreas Lenander’s temple creation is a terse LEGO build if I’ve ever seen one. Not one piece is wasted and not one piece seems to be out of place or excessive. What could be described as a minimum viable amount of rock work composes the base, and dark red leaves on the very bottom add a nice flourish and help to soften the rocky edges as they meet the monochromatic grey background.

Leg it to the nearest temple in times of need

LEGO creations often begin with the completed appearance in mind, but sometimes a particular part can stimulate the creative process. In the case of this microscale scene by David Zambito, it was the dark tan leg parts (either from the luggabeast in 75148 Encounter on Jakku or from Rhino in 76099 Rhino Face-Off by the Mine) that were the starting point for his build. The desert temple has a futuristic, ‘other world’ feel. The use of the legs to give shape to the terrain and temple structure is inspired, but I love the entrance made with a minifigure open backpack part.