Lego is celebrating its 60th birthday today.
Today's an extra special day… Happy 60th birthday to the #LEGO brick! 🎉 Share with us your favourite LEGO memories â¤ï¸ #HappyBirthdayBrick pic.twitter.com/jeuKqqmRTL
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) January 28, 2018
The iconic toy building blocks were launched in Denmark in 1958 - taking their name from two Danish words: ‘leg’ and ‘godt’, meaning “play well’’.
Since its humble beginnings over 480 billion bricks have been made.
It's now one of the biggest toy brands in the world, spawning theme parks, movies and video games.
75 billion Lego bits were sold worldwide in 2016.
Toy shop manager Will Osborne says it hasn't changed much since it was first launched:
To mark the celebrations a giant re-creation of the "2x4" brick that Lego was unveiled Friday in New York City's Flatiron Plaza and is on display until today.
We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
- George Bernard Shaw
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01.27.18
A 10-ft model of a red Lego brick, currently on display at the Flatiron Plaza, New York City
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Lego is marking its 60th anniversary with a … https://t.co/JBLxVnHXld pic.twitter.com/usevi90Otu— Gigi A (@gigi_nyc) January 28, 2018
The "2x4" monument is 1,200 pounds and 10 feet tall.
It's made up of 133,000 individual bricks and took Lego's master builders more than 350 hours to construct.
Check out this time-lapse video from Lego of the construction:
Lego fans have been enjoying selfies with the giant brick:
10 Foot Brick in New York to Celebrate LEGO 60th Anniversary [The Brick Fan] https://t.co/oQcZTlHmTW #Lego pic.twitter.com/fsj4K6cP9Z
— LEGO news (@Lego_News1) January 27, 2018
