114-Foot Tower In Budapest Is The World's Tallest Lego Structure

Anyone that has attempted to build a free-standing Lego tower knows how difficult it is to keep it from toppling over. So it is not surprising to hear that the elementary students in Budapest requested a team of official Lego builders from Denmark to help them build one that would surpass the existing record holder - a 112-ft 11-inch tower constructed in August 2013, by students from John Dickinson High School in Wilmington, Delaware.

The 114-ft tall tower that took the professionals and children a week to complete, was erected in front of the Saint Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. The tower that exceeded the previous record holder by about 2 feet was made using 450,000 Lego bricks - 50,000 less than used in the tower built by the US students.

The builders secured the structure with wires during construction to ensure that the hundreds of spectators that gathered to watch each day, were not in any danger. However, in order to be eligible for the Guinness World Records, the wires were removed, once the tower was ready. But that or the fact that it had been built using no adhesives (another requirement), did not seem to be an issue. The brightly colored brick tower, which was topped with a Rubik's cube, stood tall and strong under the intense scrutiny of the record book officials.

Unfortunately, all the hard work has to be undone on May 26th, the day after the tower was officially named the World's tallest Lego structure. But given that this record was broken three times in 2012 alone, there are bound to be other even taller contenders sprouting up soon!

Resources: geekologie.com, cnn.com,nydailynews.com