What a great addition to the Architecture series! This one goes straight on the wish list!

It would have been so cool if LEGO added an easter egg in the form of a brick with the word "Ananke" printed on it. During a visit to the cathedral, Victor Hugo noted that this word (which is the name of the Greek goddess of necessity, compulsion, and inevitability) was carved into a wall and this inspired him to write "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame".

Stunning!

...but it doesn't look like 4000 pieces!

"Disney sets that avoid being Disney sets."

It looks beautiful, but the price... So many small parts don't justify it.

Morning in Paris, the city awakes...

Absolutely stunning model, but probably not something I'd spend that much money on. I don't think the price is particularly outrageous though, but it's still a lot of money.

Reasonable pice like Big Ben but a lot of 1x1 plates.

I thought Lego did not do religious symbols and buildings?

@merman said:
"Reasonable pice like Big Ben but a lot of 1x1 plates.

I thought Lego did not do religious symbols and buildings?"

It's a famous piece of architecture regardless of the religious significance.

If they'd make a Lego Vatican, I'd be game for that.

Shouldn't it have included a bunch of black pieces? ;-)

All jokes aside, I think it looks quite good. Probably a rather repetitive build, but that's hard to prevent with a set like this. I do feel that they could have done more with the interior though. And the color doesn't seem quite right, although I'm not sure any other color would have worked better.

And yeah, it's kinda weird that they suddenly do a church set even when they generally avoided those even in the skyline sets. But I'm not complaining. I can think of quite a few more churches and othe religious building that I'd like to see from Lego.

This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).

Tell me that is a landmark (typical reasoning) if you like, but it's a religious building, a church. And those kind of building have been constantly rejected in several platforms like Ideas, because of its religious connection (I have first hand experience on those rejections).

Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore.

PS. Set looks amazing, like many other cathedrals could look like

Beautiful. If they keep doing this, they should make a set of that cathedral in Barcelona once it's finally finished, sometime this decade.

@GenericLegoFan said:
"Beautiful. If they keep doing this, they should make a set of that cathedral in Barcelona once it's finally finished, sometime this decade."

They rejected my project of the Barcelona's Sagrada Familia due to that is a religious building. But knowing how the LEGO Group behaves, I truly trust that it will be done, knowing that it's already represented in the Barcelona's Flagship Store.

"Do what I say, not what I do" or "Those are my principles, and if I don’t get money from them… well, I have others."

Time to raise a stink about Lego not adhering to their "no religion" policy and get this set canceled. :)

Kidding of course. Set looks amazing.

@lluisgib said:
"This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).

Tell me that is a landmark (typical reasoning) if you like, but it's a religious building, a church. And those kind of building have been constantly rejected in several platforms like Ideas, because of its religious connection (I have first hand experience on those rejections).

Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore."

Lego release not Ideals, different Lego does it.
Thought castle theme had cross's all over it in castle designs ect
Viking sets... Marvel.. ect... They make sets aboout Gods/Goddess ...
A Pagan City Lies Below The Cathedral.
Gothic Cathedral
Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...
They say no military example WW2.. for very good reason...

Who cares about a "no religion" policy, this thing looks awesome.
Could be the start of an entire series. One per year or so.
Sagrada Familia, St. Paul's, Cologne Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Frauenkirche Dresden, Hagia Sofia (ok, perhaps they wouldn't dare doing that last one, but anyway).

Looks brilliant and hats off to the designer.
But I suspect its goint to be quite a repetitive build, like a lot of the Architecture sets. Flying buttresses and associated supports x30, anyone?

Just add some fire pieces and it'll be accurate!

Anyhow, this is a cool model! Even though it is religious (I'm a Christian so I don't really care either way), I feel like Notre Dame is iconic as a landmark regardless, so LEGO making it a set is fine by me. It'd basically be the same as if they made Chichen Itza in LEGO - it technically does have religious significance, but it's more known as a landmark, so they could get away with it.

I really love this, another expensive addition to my wish list.

Wonderful! Having lived a few blocks from it for many years, it will be mine for sure :-)

I really liked the Manchester stadium even though I don’t care at all about football. It was an architecture set and not a sport theme set.

Same for White House. People who buy the set are not necessarily fans of the USA president or interested in politics.

I think the same could apply for this set: enjoy it for the architectural aspect, and not the religious or cultural significance. Like the recent set Great Pyramid.

I saw another fan note when the set leaked "studying architecture without including religious buildings would be like studying art without including nude figures." That LEGO has taken this long to begin including religious buildings at all in the Architecture theme is somewhat surprising but long overdue.

As for "it violates LEGO Ideas guidelines!" let's be honest, LEGO Ideas gives us a 'broad' list that doesn't reflect internal LEGO decision making. Lots of things violate Ideas guidelines, sometimes even Ideas violates it's own fan guidelines by including new molds in the sets which were not something the fans could include themselves. At this point, assume that LEGO's real rules are determined by long internal board meetings, and the Ideas guidelines are superficial broad strokes nonsense only meant to guide Ideas submissions from repeating the LEGO Cuusoo era "Firefly" controversy again.

@AustinPowers said:
"Could be the start of an entire series. One per year or so.
Sagrada Familia, St. Paul's, Cologne Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Frauenkirche Dresden, Hagia Sofia (ok, perhaps they wouldn't dare doing that last one, but anyway). "

How about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.....obviously including the infamous Immovable Ladder :-)

And at the moment not very likely, but I'd love to see Saint Basil's Cathedral, especially with an interior. As impressive as it looks from the outside, the interior was what really surprised me.

And obviously the Domtoren of Utrecht. And to make it even better: back in 1986 they put a life size image of the Saturn V on one side of that tower....now that would be a cool bonus!

But that's enough churches for me, I'd be more interested in temples and shrines....

If LEGO have ditched their 'no religion' policy, perhaps now they can finally make a Jedi Temple! /s

This is not to my taste as I'm not a big fan of Lego Architecture despite being a fan of both Lego and Architecture separately.... but I certainly have no objection to it being produced.
I do however think it's time to revisit the "no religious buildings" rule, i.e. get rid of it as a blanket rule and instead consider each building on its own merits and whether rendering it in Lego would likely cause offense.
(I can confidently say even if they produced a range of cathedrals, there would be no chance of a Lego Kaaba, for example.)

@missedoutagain said:
[Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...]

Here you are (from my rejection):

Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:

* Politics and political symbols
* Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people
* Sex, drugs, or smoking
* Alcohol in any present day situation
* Swearing
* Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture
* First-person shooter video games
* Warfare or war vehicles in any modern or present-day situation
* Racism, bullying, or cruelty to real life animals

And don't tell me that Ideas is for children, as almost all sets are marked 18+ (right now all except 1 at LEGO.com). Hypocrisy in pure state.

I am not against the set. I'm blaming on the selective rules. Of course they are free to do whatever they want. But they sell "values" that they are not followiing anymore.

@lluisgib said:
" @GenericLegoFan said:
"Beautiful. If they keep doing this, they should make a set of that cathedral in Barcelona once it's finally finished, sometime this decade."

They rejected my project of the Barcelona's Sagrada Familia due to that is a religious building. But knowing how the LEGO Group behaves, I truly trust that it will be done, knowing that it's already represented in the Barcelona's Flagship Store.

"Do what I say, not what I do" or "Those are my principles, and if I don’t get money from them… well, I have others.""

That sucks that ideas rejected yours and lego will probably make it as a set themselves,but oh well. I don't really trust any big corporations on something like that.

Next up, please make Mont St. Michel. Maybe like the new Hogwarts grounds scale? I think that could be done well without being massive.

@lluisgib said:
"This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).

Tell me that is a landmark (typical reasoning) if you like, but it's a religious building, a church. And those kind of building have been constantly rejected in several platforms like Ideas, because of its religious connection (I have first hand experience on those rejections).

Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore.

PS. Set looks amazing, like many other cathedrals could look like"

This is not the first time that religious buildings have been portrayed in the Architecture series. 21051, 21039 and 21026 springs to mind.

SANCTUARY!

@Andrusi said:
"Morning in Paris, the city awakes..."

To the bells of Notre Dame…

@dimc said:
"Next up, please make Mont St. Michel. Maybe like the new Hogwarts grounds scale? I think that could be done well without being massive. "
Already available ;-)
https://www.bluebrixx.com/de/architecture/102920/Le-Mont-Saint-Michel-BlueBrixx-Special

I GASPED OUT LOUD. I so so so wish I could justify this; I've never wanted a set that was so far out of my price range so much. AAAAGH

@lluisgib said:
"This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).
Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore.
"
I share your cynical view. I admit, I still buy the products and nobody is forcing me, and they do a lot of things very well.
But.
Every time I see broken parts, yellowed white after 5 minutes in daylight, 17 shades of lime in one set, shitty stickers with a background colour that doesn't match the plastic, stupid mistakes in instructions, I think of the latest "We've made another billion" financial results update.
Scratch "Only the best is good enough". Replace with "If it sells it's good enough".

Religious buildings are among my favourite pieces of architecture, so I'm glad to see some LEGO make one at last. Not to mention Notre Dame itself is an astounding building in real life.

But with that said, this is LEGO going against those so called 'core values' again. I remember attempting to submit Westminster Abbey to a Rebrick contest (back when that was still a thing), but being rejected for being a 'religious theme'. With that said, I guess architecture has more of a focus on the building than the religion itself (if there was a minifig-scale church in LEGO City, I guess that would be a different story), so maybe that skirts the rules? Doesn't really excuse the Ideas rejections though...

Who knows, maybe this will be a repeat of the Osprey situation? Interested to see if they do Westminster Abbey or the Hagia Sofia one day.

Imagine no religion...
Imagine no possessions too* - that's the way I'm headed once I have sold off everything needed to buy the sets I like out of the new wave
*Apart from tons more bricks

I'm not planning to get this, but I'll definitely have to make a mental note to look through the instructions once those get uploaded. Not to look at the techniques or anything like that, but to see what is said about the building's history.

@lluisgib said:
"This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).

Tell me that is a landmark (typical reasoning) if you like, but it's a religious building, a church. And those kind of building have been constantly rejected in several platforms like Ideas, because of its religious connection (I have first hand experience on those rejections).

Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore.

PS. Set looks amazing, like many other cathedrals could look like"

As someone who is Catholic, I can tell you that the way Lego is presenting it, it is just a building. There is nothing included in the set that makes the real Notre Dame a church. There is no altar, tabernacle, ambo or other things that the Catholic church requires to be present in churches. There are plenty of churches that have been deconsecrated. There are plenty of buildings that have been converted into churches.

@TheOtherMike said:
"I'm not planning to get this, but I'll definitely have to make a mental note to look through the instructions once those get uploaded. Not to look at the techniques or anything like that, but to see what is said about the building's history."

The Cathedral's name is literally "Our Lady" in reference to the Catholic title for the Virgin Mary, so it's going to be really noticeable if they gloss over that.

Different teams within LEGO have different rules. Ideas has some pretty clear guidelines on what is and what isn't allowed, yet people are confused when they submit stuff that clearly goes against those guidelines. [Looking at you 50 modular building submissions per wave]

Having the proposal come from the ARCHITECTURE team internally makes it an easier sell. Not only that, I would argue that Notre Dame and the Leaning Tower of Pisa are far better known for architecture than religion. These are cultural icons, like Petra, or the Acropolis that LEGO has also produced. Tons of religious buildings/sites have been included in LEGO (ie Pyramids), but for their cultural/architectural/iconic status rather than religion.

Go back far enough in history and basically every building of architectural note is tied to religion. Non-issue for me.

@lluisgib said:
" @missedoutagain said:
[Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...]

Here you are (from my rejection):

Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:

* Politics and political symbols
* Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people
* Sex, drugs, or smoking
* Alcohol in any present day situation
* Swearing
* Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture
* First-person shooter video games
* Warfare or war vehicles in any modern or present-day situation
* Racism, bullying, or cruelty to real life animals

And don't tell me that Ideas is for children, as almost all sets are marked 18+ (right now all except 1 at LEGO.com). Hypocrisy in pure state.

I am not against the set. I'm blaming on the selective rules. Of course they are free to do whatever they want. But they sell "values" that they are not followiing anymore. "

To be clear, those rules you posted only apply to them approving projects. They also won’t approve Star Wars projects, but they’ll still release Star Wars sets. The rules for Ideas submissions and regular set design are different, but that’s not what hypocrisy is. They’re two different things, it makes sense that there would be different rules.

@fakespacesquid said:
" @lluisgib said:
" @missedoutagain said:
[Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...]

Here you are (from my rejection):

Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:

* Politics and political symbols
* Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people
* Sex, drugs, or smoking
* Alcohol in any present day situation
* Swearing
* Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture
* First-person shooter video games
* Warfare or war vehicles in any modern or present-day situation
* Racism, bullying, or cruelty to real life animals

And don't tell me that Ideas is for children, as almost all sets are marked 18+ (right now all except 1 at LEGO.com). Hypocrisy in pure state.

I am not against the set. I'm blaming on the selective rules. Of course they are free to do whatever they want. But they sell "values" that they are not followiing anymore. "

To be clear, those rules you posted only apply to them approving projects. They also won’t approve Star Wars projects, but they’ll still release Star Wars sets. The rules for Ideas submissions and regular set design are different, but that’s not what hypocrisy is. They’re two different things, it makes sense that there would be different rules."

Don't buy that. It doesn't says LEGO Ideas. It says LEGO Group

"Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:"

@lluisgib said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
" @lluisgib said:
" @missedoutagain said:
[Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...]

Here you are (from my rejection):

Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:

* Politics and political symbols
* Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people
* Sex, drugs, or smoking
* Alcohol in any present day situation
* Swearing
* Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture
* First-person shooter video games
* Warfare or war vehicles in any modern or present-day situation
* Racism, bullying, or cruelty to real life animals

And don't tell me that Ideas is for children, as almost all sets are marked 18+ (right now all except 1 at LEGO.com). Hypocrisy in pure state.

I am not against the set. I'm blaming on the selective rules. Of course they are free to do whatever they want. But they sell "values" that they are not followiing anymore. "

To be clear, those rules you posted only apply to them approving projects. They also won’t approve Star Wars projects, but they’ll still release Star Wars sets. The rules for Ideas submissions and regular set design are different, but that’s not what hypocrisy is. They’re two different things, it makes sense that there would be different rules."

Don't buy that. It doesn't says LEGO Ideas. It says LEGO Group

"Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:""

“Approve projects” is not the same as “make sets”

@Darth_Dee said:
" @lluisgib said:
"This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).

Tell me that is a landmark (typical reasoning) if you like, but it's a religious building, a church. And those kind of building have been constantly rejected in several platforms like Ideas, because of its religious connection (I have first hand experience on those rejections).

Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore.

PS. Set looks amazing, like many other cathedrals could look like"

As someone who is Catholic, I can tell you that the way Lego is presenting it, it is just a building. There is nothing included in the set that makes the real Notre Dame a church. There is no altar, tabernacle, ambo or other things that the Catholic church requires to be present in churches. There are plenty of churches that have been deconsecrated. There are plenty of buildings that have been converted into churches."

Excellent point over here!

Now that apparently its ok to release sets based on religious landmarks, I hope to see more locations from a variety of faiths represented in brick form. I'd particularly like to see the blue mosque in Istanbul.

@Walnut_Candle said:
" @Andrusi said:
"Morning in Paris, the city awakes..."

To the bells of Notre Dame…"

The fisherman fishes, the baker man bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bell as loud as the thunder
To the little bells, soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of
the city's the toll of
the bells
The bells of Notre Dame...

Sorry, but how is this the first model of a religious building since 1958? 21026 includes St. Mark's Basilica, and 21039 includes both a Buddhist temple and a Taoist folk temple. I guess you could argue that neither of those sets depicted ONLY a place of worship, but that hardly seems like so momentous a change in policy as the article lede and many of the comments are suggesting.

Anyway, very pretty set! Somewhat monochrome, of course, as tends to be the case with a lot of Architecture models, but it definitely does a great job recreating the cathedral's iconic Gothic design flourishes such as the pointed arches, flying buttresses, and decorative spires. I can see this one being a very popular gift even for adults who aren't part of the AFOL community, and perhaps many people's introduction to LEGO building as an adult hobby.

We should start putting the weight of the set in the reviews. We should start evaluating the relationship between the price and the weight of the ABS present in the box. Here we are talking about very small pieces so it is useless to make the relationship between the price and the number of pieces. It seems to me that Lego is taking an increasingly expensive drift. Overpriced.

@fakespacesquid said:
" @lluisgib said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
" @lluisgib said:
" @missedoutagain said:
[Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...]

Here you are (from my rejection):

Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:

* Politics and political symbols
* Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people
* Sex, drugs, or smoking
* Alcohol in any present day situation
* Swearing
* Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture
* First-person shooter video games
* Warfare or war vehicles in any modern or present-day situation
* Racism, bullying, or cruelty to real life animals

And don't tell me that Ideas is for children, as almost all sets are marked 18+ (right now all except 1 at LEGO.com). Hypocrisy in pure state.

I am not against the set. I'm blaming on the selective rules. Of course they are free to do whatever they want. But they sell "values" that they are not followiing anymore. "

To be clear, those rules you posted only apply to them approving projects. They also won’t approve Star Wars projects, but they’ll still release Star Wars sets. The rules for Ideas submissions and regular set design are different, but that’s not what hypocrisy is. They’re two different things, it makes sense that there would be different rules."

Don't buy that. It doesn't says LEGO Ideas. It says LEGO Group

"Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:""

“Approve projects” is not the same as “make sets”"

Of course! it's not the same accepting Notre Dame in Lego Ideas, because a church is not appropriate for children, than Lego releasing Notre Dame. Then a church appropriate for children...

Again. I'm not talking about the set. I would like to see more like this. I'm putting on the table the hypocrisy of a certain toy manufacturer

@lluisgib said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
" @lluisgib said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
" @lluisgib said:
" @missedoutagain said:
[Also curious where says lego will not do religous stuff...]

Here you are (from my rejection):

Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:

* Politics and political symbols
* Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people
* Sex, drugs, or smoking
* Alcohol in any present day situation
* Swearing
* Death, killing, blood, terrorism, or torture
* First-person shooter video games
* Warfare or war vehicles in any modern or present-day situation
* Racism, bullying, or cruelty to real life animals

And don't tell me that Ideas is for children, as almost all sets are marked 18+ (right now all except 1 at LEGO.com). Hypocrisy in pure state.

I am not against the set. I'm blaming on the selective rules. Of course they are free to do whatever they want. But they sell "values" that they are not followiing anymore. "

To be clear, those rules you posted only apply to them approving projects. They also won’t approve Star Wars projects, but they’ll still release Star Wars sets. The rules for Ideas submissions and regular set design are different, but that’s not what hypocrisy is. They’re two different things, it makes sense that there would be different rules."

Don't buy that. It doesn't says LEGO Ideas. It says LEGO Group

"Remember the LEGO Group is a toy company, so we're careful to only produce products we deem appropriate for children. Therefore, we won't approve projects related to these topics:""

“Approve projects” is not the same as “make sets”"

Of course! it's not the same accepting Notre Dame in Lego Ideas, because a church is not appropriate for children, than Lego releasing Notre Dame. Then a church appropriate for children...

Again. I'm not talking about the set. I would like to see more. I'm putting on the table the hypocrisy of a certain toy manufacturer"

You kind of just sound bitter that they didn't allow your project onto Ideas, they have had religious buildings as parts of other sets before, and as has been pointed out just because they don't allow it to be submitted to the platform does not mean they will never make it themselves. Internal designers and teams have differing restrictions to the Ideas platform.

@DaLegoNerd1 said:
" @ChazTheMinifig said:
"If LEGO have ditched their 'no religion' policy, perhaps now they can finally make a Jedi Temple! /s"

was that really the reason? That doesn't make sense from a fictional standpoint"

The '/s' at the end indicates that my comment was sarcastic. Of course it wasn't really the reason.

@99Sharkbait said:
"Internal designers and teams have differing restrictions to the Ideas platform."
But if, as per LEGO's own words, projects related to "Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people" are not appropriate for children, how can official sets related to that be? Is the topic only appropriate when LEGO does it? What's the difference?

I have no doubt that if a building's tourist attraction status trumps its religious building status it will be absolutely fine. Religious buildings not known world wide to a non-religious audience have no chance.

Obviously just someone who didn't make the grade having a bit of a hissy fit.

@AustinPowers said:
" @tenfootgerbil said:
" @dimc said:
"Next up, please make Mont St. Michel. Maybe like the new Hogwarts grounds scale? I think that could be done well without being massive. "

Yes please!"
Like I posted above, already available. "

You posted a non-Lego version. It's cool for sure, but I have no experience with that company.

I'm still amazed at the number of folks who like to add a comment but never bother to read any of the previous comments.

@lluisgib - thank you for providing the rejection letter. It's very interesting. Additionally, it's clear that they provided you a form letter with a generic list of unacceptable submissions. Is it possible that they rejected your submission not due to a religious concern but moreso due to your inclusion of drunk, warfaring, present day animal abusing political smokers?

@lluisgib said:
"This is the moment when I lost the remaining trust I had on the LEGO Group (I was waiting it since I knew about this set).

Tell me that is a landmark (typical reasoning) if you like, but it's a religious building, a church. And those kind of building have been constantly rejected in several platforms like Ideas, because of its religious connection (I have first hand experience on those rejections).

Actual LEGO Group religion is money, and they don't care anymore about any of their "core values", mainly when those core values impact on their financial result.

Blame on me if you like. I don't care anymore.

PS. Set looks amazing, like many other cathedrals could look like"

LEGO is run by a bunch of hypocrites. That isn't news.
I for one am happy they're FINALLY giving us a set based on a Catholic Cathedral. The "no religious or political sets" rule is absolute BS because LEGO has never been consistent on that.
They did a Chinese God minifigure. They constantly make political sets to push agenda.
At least, for once in their lives, they're also making a set based on an extremely important landmark of European culture.
I just hope it doesn't stop here. There are a ton of gorgeous Christian churches that would look great as LEGO sets, from the Jerónimos Monastery to Westminster Abbey to the Church of God's Holy Wisdom in Constantinople.

But knowing LEGO and the people working there...I'm not holding my breath.
They likely only did this one to sell at the Paris Olympic Games.

7199 was also place of worship.

The Hunchback should be a GWP.

@djcbs said:
"LEGO is run by a bunch of hypocrites. That isn't news.
"

What is hypocritical? I see this less an issue of LEGO being hypocritical than it is just that the guidelines on a place like Ideas are broad strokes and applicable to fan submissions, but don't represent internal LEGO policy. The LEGO Ideas reals have always been clear, they apply to the fans; but don't represent the full breadth of LEGO's internal decision making choices.

At this point LEGO fans trying to be the morality police for LEGO itself is tiring. We already potentially lost out on the Osprey set because somebody had to raise a stink it was "militaristic." There is no way that LEGO will meet the moral ideas of everybody, and the Ideas rules are just broad strokes stuff to try and filter out the most blatantly offensive submissions. Anybody who read any of the Bionicle books back in the 2000's would already know that LEGO's idea on violence in their own themes is surprisingly malleable as we read about gruesome murders, genocides, crime, body horror mutations, etc. all set in a society that was highly spiritualistic with a religious structure devoted to its own god-like being (who was a giant robot they were living inside, but still) in what was a LEGO original theme. Bionicle was not even a licensed I.P. like Indiana Jones or the Marvel movies, but something LEGO created in-house and could have easily asked to tone down the violence had it just asked its own staff to do such. All of those themes would have gotten Bionicle struck out of an Ideas submission had it been a fan pitched project on the website, yet it became a cult-classic LEGO theme beloved by the kids who grew up with it all the same.

I think the only thing that would shock me is if LEGO began making World War 2 stuff, if only because I feel much of LEGO's own resistance to real-world violence is rooted in the (K)Christiansen family experiences in the two World Wars; but I also suspect that as time goes on we might someday reach a point where WW2 violence will be a historical curiosity in the same way Medieval castles, Roman gladiators, Viking raiders, Ninja assassins, blood thirsty Pirates, Imperial colonialist naval fleets, etc. are already treated by LEGO; since it seems that something being far enough in the past makes it sting less than something closer to the present.

Winter Village church, next, please! Also, Narnia.

Ok … but how does it compare to the shadowbox version?

For all those people mentioning that no religion policy, first of all that is a policy for submissions to Lego Ideas. I imagine it is about control and being delicate and sensitive with subjects such as religion. Sure, they could allow religion and just reject submissions that they think are inappropriate, but that would be putting a lot of pressure on their reviewers.

That said, this no religion policy has NEVER been adhered to. Lego and Lego Ideas have absolutely no qualms about Christmas sets. And I hate to break it to you, but Christmas is a Christian holiday that is celebrated by Christians. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and many more couldn’t care less about the holiday, and in many countries it’s not even a public holiday, people still go to work.

Very surprised that Lego are doing a religious building.

And remember when Lego do Christmas and Easter there is no religious imagery. There's never been a Lego Jesus or Crucifix.

@dimc said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @tenfootgerbil said:
" @dimc said:
"Next up, please make Mont St. Michel. Maybe like the new Hogwarts grounds scale? I think that could be done well without being massive. "

Yes please!"
Like I posted above, already available. "

You posted a non-Lego version. It's cool for sure, but I have no experience with that company. "
Bricks are bricks. Other than the logo on the studs I don't see or feel a difference. Sure you can get cheap knockoff crap from China, but many alternatives nowadays are on par with LEGO, and one or two are even of better quality by now. Especially when it comes to print quality, many of the Chinese brands are way ahead.
I have built sets from over thirty brands over the years and the improvement in quality over the years is astonishing. Diametrically opposite to the decline in quality of our Danish friends.

@MrBedhead ready to disagree in 3,2,1...

I think part of the discrepancy between in-house and Ideas is that LEGO knows their intentions, but not their fan designers'. A blanket ban on Ideas sets with religious ties could be a tidy way to shut down any potential controversy from sets that would be read as promoting a religion, such as sets depicting stories from religious canons or religious figures. Heck, a set with religion involved could even garner controversy if it was just a building but the votes were discovered to be the result of a religious campaign that was explicitly agenda-based. LEGO doesn't want to touch that.

But if it's in-house celebrating a very significant piece of historical architecture and with religion really not being a part of the set's purpose whatsoever, then they can take that risk. It's not like we have figures of priests and a press release talking about Christianity. This is an architecture study that's a religious building because so many fascinating architectural feats were historically in the service of religion. This isn't much different from the Pyramid of Giza Architecture set in that regard.

So many comments like "what about no religion policy", and yet still no one mentioned that Taj Mahal (released in 2008, 2017, 2021) is a religious building too. What do you think those four corner towers are for?

And if you search for visiting hours of Taj Mahal, you'll see it's not open for tourists on Fridays, because that's when the Taj Mosque is open for prayers. So not just a tourist landmark, but a fully functional religious building, though not the main building of the complex (which is a tomb).

So nope, Notre-Dame wasn't the first. I'm surprised so many people forgot about that.

@Rabrickzel said:
"Will it have exclusive star wars minifigure?"

Virgin Mary force ghost

@r2_d2_96 said:
"So many comments like "what about no religion policy", and yet still no one mentioned that Taj Mahal (released in 2008, 2017, 2021) is a religious building too. What do you think those four corner towers are for?

And if you search for visiting hours of Taj Mahal, you'll see it's not open for tourists on Fridays, because that's when the Taj Mosque is open for prayers. So not just a tourist landmark, but a fully functional religious building, though not the main building of the complex (which is a tomb).

So nope, Notre-Dame wasn't the first. I'm surprised so many people forgot about that."

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is part of a cathedral as well.

@8BrickMario said:
"I think part of the discrepancy between in-house and Ideas is that LEGO knows their intentions, but not their fan designers'. A blanket ban on Ideas sets with religious ties could be a tidy way to shut down any potential controversy from sets that would be read as promoting a religion, such as sets depicting stories from religious canons or religious figures. Heck, a set with religion involved could even garner controversy if it was just a building but the votes were discovered to be the result of a religious campaign that was explicitly agenda-based. LEGO doesn't want to touch that.

But if it's in-house celebrating a very significant piece of historical architecture and with religion really not being a part of the set's purpose whatsoever, then they can take that risk. It's not like we have figures of priests and a press release talking about Christianity. This is an architecture study that's a religious building because so many fascinating architectural feats were historically in the service of religion. This isn't much different from the Pyramid of Giza Architecture set in that regard."

Not to mention the potential for religious Ideas projects that *don't* get approved for one reason or another to immediately get propped up as evidence that Lego is satanic or whatever. Especially once you have both at least one approved religious Ideas project and at least one rejected religious Ideas project and suddenly everyone's projecting agendas onto the comparison.

21061 Notre-Dame de Paris
4,383 pieces, rated 18+
€229.99 / US$229.99 / £199.99 GBP /AU$349.99
Available for pre-order without GWP at LEGO.com today in some regions. Released on June 1st

The LEGO Architecture Notre-Dame de Paris shepherds in a new addition to the home of any fan of Jesus, travel, history, and classical architecture. The building experience and PDF instruction booklet takes the builder on a journey of faith through the architectural evolution of this iconic Parisian Christian landmark, beginning in 1163, when the first stone was laid, through architect Viollet-le-Duc’s redesign work in the 19th century to Notre-Dame’s majestic appearance before the fire of 2019 which apparently forever ruined its majesty.

The ability to admire the roof also allows admirers to peek inside the legendary building and admire the admirations and details such as the rose window printed radar dish, interior 1x5 columns with knob, gothic arches, the two towers and Orthanc.

Talking about the process behind the new set, Rok Žgalin Kobe, Designer at the LEGO Group, said: “Not to be confused with Dwayne Johnson, I tried to bring it to life by not only capturing its outward appearance, but the way and the stages in which the original was duck build. I (we) wanted LEGO fans to retrace the architectural journey and evolution of this holy landmark during its construction, to encourage a deeper spiritual appreciation for its real-life once majestic counterpart.”

@AidenBurrett said:
"Looks like something off harry potter"

That is because they based Hogwarts on gothic and Norman romanesque architecture, so it looks like many medieval buildings or revival styled later buildings in Europe. Notre Dame came before Harry Potter.

IMHO I doubt that this is the start of a new range. As some have posted on here, the announcement of TWO of Paris' (That's Paris, France for those south of Canada) major tourist attractions points more to an attempt to cash in on the upcoming games than to a diversion from previous policies on religion.

After all, any range of religious buildings would have to be considered very carefully given that there are major schisms between groups within each of the 'main' religions.