This. Is. Awesome.

Fr. Bob Simon, from St. Catherine of Siena parish in Moscow, Pennsylvania, has built a detailed model of St. Peter’s Basilica and Square entirely out of Legos, which will be on display at the Franklin Institute through February 15.

Five fun facts:

1. The model Vatican measures 14×6 feet and uses 500,000 Legos.

2. Fr. Simon, age 50, made his first attempt at building a Lego Vatican when he was in seventh grade. (And he also wanted to be a priest way back then – cool.)

3. Fr. Simon describes how the work of building the Vatican piece by piece became a prayerful exercise, reminding him of the rosary. (Yup. Anyone who spent hours at a time as a kid playing with Legos can relate to this. Maybe you weren’t praying, but there was a rhythm, a cadence, and you were consumed by it, lost in it.)

4. The white ruff collars for the Swiss Guards were purchased from a Hungarian man who owned nine of the world’s total supply of fourteen. (Not sure if we should call that a “fun fact” or a “fact that proves there is a vast, global, slightly scary Lego subculture.”)

5. As you can see from the photos, the Lego Vatican reflects Pope Francis’ new teaching that St. Peter’s Square is in fact “somewhat roundish.”

Well done, Fr. Simon. Well done.

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