snowvictim Posted July 29, 2019 (edited) Greetings! I have recently took upon myself the task of recreating one of my favourite buildings lost to the ravages of war: St. Alexander's Church in Warsaw, Poland. It's quite an ambitious project (over 20,000 bricks) that I intend to finish by October. Background information: The church was completed in 1825 and was built in the neoclassical style. In the 1890s, the Russians, who occupied Poland, decided to remodel the building architecturally and expand it considerably. The temple was practically intact following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and was almost completely razed to the ground as part of the planned destruction of Warsaw in late 1944 (only one of the bell towers survived). After the war, the church was rebuilt, however in its original form, not the one after the 1890 alteration (probably due to a combination of insufficient funding and the opposition to the Church by the new communist regime). My aim was to rebuild the church as it stood between 1890 and 1944. Notes on the build: Dimensions: the building itself measures 132cm x 76cm x 54cm (the build is situated on a 2x4 grid of 48x48 baseplates) Many people may be annoyed by this, but I decided not to build the interior for two reasons; one is practical, the other is technical. As for practicality, I came up with an idea to insert some LED lighting into the church so that it can be illuminated, which should combine beautifully with the trans-coloured bricks that make up the stained glass windows. Inserting a power source, wiring, lights, controlled, etc. may have been problematic with a completed interior. Regarding technicality, I conducted a lot of photographic research before designing the model in Studio. While pictures of the exterior are not difficult to come by (owing to the fact that the church was one of the architectural crown jewels of pre-war Warsaw), I had only found one of the interior, and the quality of it was insufficient to provide an appropriate representation of the interior. Although written accounts of the interior do exist, I wanted to stay true to the original. Granted, one cannot replicate everything in Lego (especially me, a mediocre builder at best), but I didn't want my imagination to taint the build. Photos of the actual church: (The church after being destroyed. Notice the one surviving bell tower. The bricks you can see in the foreground came from the church and were used to build other buildings for the returning population following their expulsion after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising). Renders: Note: the renders aren't complete, primarily because of technical limitations. I'm running an Intel i7 with a GTX 1080 and even that setup struggles sometimes. Also, the angles of the build make working in Studio annoying at times. Some elements that I wanted to put Studio considers as colliding with others (particularly when it comes to the dome), so I've decided to just do them in real life instead. These include the top of the dome, the roofing adjacent to the dome base, the statues on the roof, and some minor details here and there. The greatest challenge will be the walls of the dome; as you can see they're empty, and I may have to resort to non-Lego means. Building: Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler More to follow! Most of the workpace is dictated by how fast the BrickLink orders arrive at my place. Edited July 29, 2019 by snowvictim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pdaitabird Posted July 29, 2019 Wow! It looks great so far - I can't wait to see more WIP pictures as the build progresses! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deraven Posted July 29, 2019 Beautiful! Shame about the interior, but I totally understand your reasoning on that and it makes sense. I think the exterior will be spectacular enough on it's own anyway! Looking forward to seeing more, and the completed and lit display. Nice job integrating those angled entrances on the side, btw - looks great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowvictim Posted July 29, 2019 Thanks for the positive comments! The towers on the southern front should be completed by the end of this week, unless there's some unexpected delay in the post. As for the interior, I did leave myself some room to design it later on should I ever feel like it by putting some 2x2 corner bricks instead of regular 1x2 bricks that can serve as anchor points, but I think the sheer complexity of fitting it would overwhelm me. Besides, this thing would probably come out at over 30,000 bricks with the interior and, per studio calculations, it will already weigh around 20kg (~44lbs) without it! Keep an eye out for updates! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Train 12 Volts Posted July 29, 2019 Wow!!! When I see this kind of work I feel a sensation that goes beyond the Lego, these are projects that convey emotion and pride for one's country.You have realized a great CAD building and I hope to see soon the church done in real bricks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mister Phes Posted July 30, 2019 21 hours ago, snowvictim said: Note: the renders aren't complete, primarily because of technical limitations. Nice work so far! I've posted this on the Eurobricks frontpage to help bring it to the attention of other CAD builders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Man with a hat Posted July 30, 2019 Oof, that's impressive. I am working on a small church myself, but this is a big one! I cannot wait to see it finished. Good luck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
STHLM Posted July 30, 2019 Wow! It's a huge build. I can't wait to see the dome complete. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowvictim Posted August 2, 2019 Update 02.08.2019: Slightly too optimistic about the postal service. I've only received 3 of the 5 orders needed to continue the build, and not the 3 with most of the important parts. Most of what is blocking the the way to progressing with construction is a deficiency of 1x2 Modified Brick with Flutes parts, which are needed for the pilasters, but also the 3x3 Corner Slopes that put a hold to further work on the bell towers (damn shame as I have all the other parts needed for it). Started constructing the main part of the church as well. Also, one of the orders that came in included the support beams I need to build the integrated scaffolding that will hold up the roof, so fingers crossed I can move onto that as soon as I find some 8x8 plates in my storage. Spoiler Spoiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tkbricks Posted August 7, 2019 Absolutely gorgeous! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowvictim Posted August 23, 2019 Apologies for the exorbitantly slow pace of this project, but it's taking some of these orders AGES to get in (took almost a month for a domestic order to come in!!! Went on a massive tirade with the seller). The vital package for the two bell towers came in today, I've managed to build one already. I'm not sure whether I have all the required parts in sufficient quantities to build the second one, might be a bit short on 2x2 tan plates. I'll give it a go, though. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler So I'm also missing a lot of the 1x1 reddish brown slopes that make the wooden planks, which direct the sounds of the bells downwards. I've had a few in storage so I used whatever I had. Spoiler The studs beneath the wooden planks between the tile and the modified plates will be filled with the grilled tiles (which I also happen to be missing...). Hoping to get the other tower done by the end of the weekend, if I have the parts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_TLG_ Posted September 24, 2019 Very nice and model! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Krol Zmija Sebastian Posted September 27, 2019 Beautiful! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KotZ Posted September 28, 2019 This looks great so far! Quite accurate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pengfei Posted October 26, 2019 Great works! I like the details of the adorn on the lintel! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RyszardBosiak Posted October 28, 2019 Wow, I'm impressed! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowvictim Posted January 18, 2021 This project is still alive, folks, although it's been in hibernation for a while now due to a plethora of reasons... Anyway, I'm trying my best to get things moving, there's been quite a breakthrough in the past month. Here are some updates (FYI some of the photos were vertical on my computer, but uploaded horizontally -- no idea how to fix it, so a bit of neck exercise for you folks!): Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowvictim Posted January 20, 2021 Progress on the western wall. Unfortunately the seller from whom I ordered 460 tan 1x2 modified bricks with grilles has been taken ill and won't be able to ship my order until sometime next week... I'll probably start working on the rotunda and the dome as they're not connected to the facade. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vilhelm22 Posted January 20, 2021 Only just come across this thread but very impressed! It's clearly enormous in size! I'd love to see it next to a modular for size comparison.... I can't wait to see the final product! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
