In Rockefeller Plaza, among the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan, a 8.47 meter high World Cup reproduction appeared. It consists of 1.363.402 LEGO bricks and, according to the Danish company, is the largest mobile construction ever made with its pieces. The definition requires a small clarification: under the yellow coating there is a steel structure of about three and a half tons, necessary to support the 4.2 tons of bricks.
The construction was presented on 6 July by Cafu, captain of Brazil world champion in 2002 and only player to have played three consecutive World Championship finals. The former defender symbolically arranged the last pieces together with some fans, opening the LEGO area within the Fan Village of the Rockefeller Center. The cup will remain in the square until 19 July, the day of the final tournament.
The real work began eight months earlier in Kladno, Czech Republic, where LEGO has a factory dedicated to the production of its larger models. Fifty-nine people between designers, engineers, builders and technicians took 7,040 hours to complete it. To take it to New York it was necessary to divide it into sixteen sections: the heaviest reached about two tons and some of the pedane used for transport measured 2.3 meters per side. Once in Manhattan, the pieces were reassembled in the square.
The cup is mainly the most visible point of a wider football occupation of the Rockefeller Center. For two weeks the track where in winter it skates on the ice has become a field with large screens to follow the matches. In other spaces, training for children and adults, screenings, shows and an exhibition on the history of the World Cup were organised. The general entrance and the view of the games are free, while some activities require the reservation and can exhaust the available places.
Around the LEGO building there are locations where you can assemble models, create custom minifigures and add pieces to a collective mural inspired by the tournament. It is also a rather elaborate advertising campaign: the collaboration between LEGO and FIFA includes a product line dedicated to World Cup and the first official minifigures of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior. In March, a version of the cup with a natural size, 36.8 cm high and made up of 2,842 pieces.
The Fan Village is open every day until 19 July at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Schedules vary according to matches: generally from 10 to 20 on less crowded days and until 23, or at midnight, on main days. The entrances indicated by the organizers are on the 49th street at the corner of Fifth Avenue and on the 50th at the corner of Sixth Avenue; security checks are provided at the entrance and access to the areas to see the matches depends on the capacity.
L’articolo A Rockefeller Plaza is an eight-metre high World Cup, made of LEGO proviene da IlNewyorkese.
