Is this the real-life Imperial Soldiers' colony?

[Lord James]

Hi. First-time poster here.

Recently I was looking up photos of old forts to find features that I could incorporate into a new LDD model of mine. I stumbled across some pictures of Christiansværn, located in Christiansted on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As the name suggests, the fort was owned and used by Danish colonial forces before the U.S. government annexed the colony. As far as I know, there aren't any other forts from that period that are plastered in yellow and white colors. Most are just bare stone or brick. In fact, all the oldest government buildings in Christiansted are mostly yellow and white. I can imagine Lego designers back in the 1980s looking through a Danish encyclopedia for ideas on how Imperial Soldiers forts should appear, and then finding photos of Christiansværn and all the other old buildings in Christiansted, which might have led them to design Eldorado Fortress, Sabre Island, Lagoon Lock-Up, etc. The last photo is a lithograph from 1839, showing that the colors weren't a recent development. So it might be credible. I googled to see if anyone else had the same theory, but it didn't come up with anything. Thoughts?

[Sigolf Brimabane]

Really cool! Sounds plausible :) That place looks just like the Lego!

[Southwest Chief]

Looks a lot like classic Lego Pirate buildings.

[Dunedain]

Interesting theory, and funny that the 2 countries involved with this fort were the Danish and Americans. Lego is made and originated in Denmark, and the number one consumer of Lego is America.

[Captain Nemo]

I feel like that's just more coincidental. It may have been related to source material (although we have know idea how much they used back then, and I don't think it's nearly to the extent at which they use now) but more likely I think it was other factors. Most likely Lego may have just wanted to make a bright colorful pirate wave, and that's why we have the yellow (The Imperial yellow and white does contrast the black and grey pirate fort too). The first castle sets were also bright and yellow--but then they became more realistically colored later on--likewise the Imperial forts are mostly white now. Plus all the color limitations back then; and I'm sure Lego also wanted to differentiate the color style of Castle and Pirates (No point in having two grey forts on the market at the same time, etc.).

Regardless I don't think that takes away from the beauty of the Eldorado Fortress. It came out way before my time, but I consider it among the most iconic of sets.

[Maxim I]

The first castle sets were also bright and yellow--but then they became more realistically colored later on--likewise the Imperial forts are mostly white now. Plus all the color limitations back then; and I'm sure Lego also wanted to differentiate the color style of Castle and Pirates (No point in having two grey forts on the market at the same time, etc.).

I just want to say there were a lot white castles in the Middle Ages. If you look to paintings, the colours were mostly white. But thanks to the industrial revolution and the big amount of smog, the white turned grey. Here in Europe, there are a lot of examples where "grey" cathedrals turned out to be white after they were cleaned What I want to say is that it is wrong to call grey castles more realistic than white (or even yellow castles).

About the colour limitation: maybe TLG used yellow to replace the lack of tan?

edit: about the yellow fortress: It really looks like Eldorado

Edited March 26, 2015 by Maxim I

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Good theory - I am convinced.

[Kolonialbeamter]

I consider it the full truth until proven wrong.

Now, let's have a Pirate Forum conference there!

Great find

[kurigan]

It’s an interesting discussion. I was on St Croix this past October for my honey moon and had a chance to tour the fort. If you want some more detail, check out my Photobucket. You’ll have to deal with me and my wife in a lot of the shots, but I grabbed a lot for my own reference as well. One day, when I have millions to spend on Lego I’d like to model Christiansværn outright. Though it is a very modern island with a 21^st century population, there is a small local historical interest. Though they tend to avoid the less politically incorrect aspect of the island’s history, they do a fairly good job preserving what they have left. I saw/heard no reference to the original color of the buildings in Christianstead but no one mentioned any change either. They are very proud of the Alexander Hamilton connection though.

As for Eldorado and colored forts, it’s come up around here a few times in the past. The stock answer is “most forts weren’t painted” but to me that’s as dubious a statement as “most dogs are brown” . Though many fortifications of varying size and function were likely left bare stone, for the expense, those of the period which were meant to be seen for the intimidation factor, like Christiansværn, were often plastered over to protect against the weather then painted to increase their visibility. It depends on a host of factors, from budget to materials used in construction to the personal taste of those responsible for the fort’s up-keep as the application of plaster or paint. Many of the structures we think of as being bare stone were not in their day but now remain exposed because no one wants to foot the bill to re-cover them. Remember the pyramids Egypt weren’t left bare stone either, but over the centuries the lime stone casings were cannibalized for other structures. Now it would be considered destructive to the sites’ historical integrity to replace the missing coating.

It is my impression that Lego as company is not overly concerned with historical accuracy. There are too many other factor to toy production, like playability, manufacturing costs, etc. to be worried whether or not a give set is a fair representation of 18^th century fortifications or not. In passing I’d buy in to Christiansværn being their primary, if not soul, inspiration for Eldorado though not based on lack of existing yellow forts. Much as has been said above, it’s likely more due to production costs and perhaps a bit of laziness that Eldorado winds up yellow. Add to that, once again our own modern concepts betraying us. They couldn’t just do a Google search for reference material, as we can now, when Eldorado was designed. Perhaps all they could find was reference to Christiansværn. Being based in Denmark it makes sense that researching at their local library, the designers would like have found reference to Christiansværn, a Danish fort, first. In modern terms, being American, if I just do a Google search for “Revolutionary War Fort” I get mostly reference to Ticonderoga, even though there have been myriad revolutionary wars the world over.

All things considered the answer is really very simply. Why is Eldorado yellow (and white)? Because it’s a toy.

P.S. am I the only one who thought of this when I first read the title?

[Captain Braunsfeld]

P.S. am I the only one who thought of this when I first read the title?

... and now I have that song in me ear...

[Kolonialbeamter]

... and it ROCKS!

@Kurigan: Thanks for the impressions! Hope you two had a great time there