Medieval Museum

Over forty years, Castle Fans have had more than 25 castles; a dozen blacksmiths and taverns; unfathomable numbers of tiny catapults and horse-drawn carts.

Isn’t it time for something new?

Not in the modern sense. This model is a mostly-faithful recreation of the Medieval equivalent of a museum – a cabinet of curiosities, also known as a wonder room. These private collections, maintained by the rich and royal, were unorganised arrangements of treasures and relics from every age and origin. 

In a wonder room, you would find armour next to paintings, jars of insects tucked behind shelves of books, and even a taxidermy sheep or two. Unlike modern museums, wonder rooms were, like the average Lego fan’s collection, unorganised and messy; I’ve done my best to recreate that with this model.

Decades of Lego Castle don’t exist simultaneously. The Fright Knights never met the Black Falcons, and King Leo’s army never crossed swords with The Forestmen. Multiple eras have come and gone, and with the Medieval Museum, I’ve tried to address this.

Featuring a timber-framed house built into the ruins of an ancient castle, the Medieval Museum is owned and operated by an old collector. Though his allegiance is unknown, his gold lion and colour scheme tend to suggest he is a royal knight, or some later castle faction.

Inside, his amassed collection of artifacts feature some relics from Lego Castle’s past, such as a lion knight’s uniform in pristine condition, as well as a collection of animals including but not limited to multi-coloured frogs, starfish, a butterfly and a sheep. Alongside this, he’s collected many books and scrolls, which are featured on three brick-built shelves that utilise two different sets of construction techniques.

The ground floor, as well as the two independent modules to the left of the castle, feature a crumbling stone building technique that accurately capture the historic age of the site. These floors feature two entrances, as well as five different window designs that showcase a stain glass window (Note: The Rendering seems to have caused the stain glass window to appear all black - it is in fact transparent blue, red & yellow), four arrow slits, an iron-barred lattice, and two different types of traditional Lego windows. Alongside the collection of frogs and the Lion knight mannequin, this structure contains seven removable display tables that play host to a variety of artifacts. Five historic banners also hang, whilst a cluster of birch trees – some entering autumn, some not – utilise a trio of building techniques to give each tree a unique personality. Inside the model, a lightweight framework of technic beams ensures that the L-shaped design remains rigid even in motion. The model’s division from the ‘wooden’ sections – the first floor landing and the roof – mean that if one desires, they can build their own first floor and return the crumbling castle to its former glory.

The first floor landing is, however, designed to integrate into the old castle nicely, and features a seamless timber-frame structure inspired by both recent castle sets and the architecture of Lemgo, Germany. Designed to represent a later century of building design, these two spaces feature wooden floors and more lavishly-designed interior features, such as a fancy wooden staircase and railing, as well as an eye-catching roof whose red colouring and simplicity are meant to pay homage to The Guarded Inn. 

The Tudor-esque additions feature a smaller selection of artifacts, primarily some nautical items and a taxidermy sheep, but are nevertheless still a worthwhile set of relics that fit nicely into the Medieval Museum. A ladder leads into the attic, where a scattering of discarded artifacts and storage crates hide a Skeleton Surprise. Let’s hope that guy isn’t the real owner of the Medieval Museum…

Aside from the artifacts, the set comes with five minifigures, a treasure cart, and a treasured cat:

 

The Medieval Museum is ready to open for viewings! Thank you for reading my description of the piece. The model depicted includes some (currently) unobtainable recolouring (though nothing expensive or expired – mainly a handful of reddish-brown), and one custom decal (the wolfpack torso), although obviously the characters factions and look are subject to change.

 

Below you can find my specifications for the build:

Thank you for reading about this project! As a long time Lego Ideas fan and Castle enthusiast, I wanted my first project to be an eye-catching model that rewarded fans of complex builds, Lego’s history, and Medieval architecture in one go. I’m excited to hear your feedback and ideas for where the project could potentially go next, and ask that you consider supporting this never-before-seen addition to Medieval Lego. It would mean a lot and as a life-long Lego fan, be a dream come true. Please don’t let my lack of projects or links to Flickr detract you from voting – I am a passionate builder with a sizeable collection that has only recently left a dark age.

 If I’ve forgotten anything, I’ll add it to the updates at some point in the future. I’ll do my best to respond to all feedback left on this project.

Thank you and have a great day,

Beadhoi