Abbey Days

History time! In 1605, a man named Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Houses of Parliament and failed. So every November 5th, the British people celebrate Guy totally blowing it (er, as in, failing to blow it) with a fireworks display and a bonfire. Rumour has it, Guy’s last words were “I hope someone someday invents some sort of ‘computing game’ which lets you build the houses of parliament out of blocks, and then has them blown up by depressed green creatures! And that my stupid mask doesn’t become weirdly fashionable.”

Funny you should say that, Guy! (allegedly). Because today’s build is a recreation of Westminster Abbey, which is just across the street from the very-not-blown-up Houses of Parliament. It’s the work of Tigah Z, who would (unfortunately for Guy) rather recreate and build lovely historical buildings instead of blowing them up. Commendable attitude! Let’s celebrate Tigah Z on November 5th instead!

This build was made for a UNESCO World Heritage competition, which means that all participants had to choose a building from the UNESCO list — think of it as a modern Seven Wonders of the World, except instead of seven, there are 1092. Tigah Z saw Westminster Abbey on the list, and suddenly the other 1091 didn’t stand a chance.

"I was inspired to make Westminster Abbey because I like the amount of detail that went into making it," says Tigah Z, who was drawn in by its intricate architecture. He made a visit to London a while ago, and while the interior of the Abbey remains a blank spot to him  — "I've never been inside!" he says — the outside intrigued his creativity.

Building it in Minecraft was far from an easy feat, though. Westminster Abbey is over a thousand years old and has stood the test of time because of how incredibly fiddly its architecture is.

"The most ambitious part of this build was the end of the transepts," says Tigah Z (unfamiliar with transepts? Follow this link and you’ll soon see why they’re so tough to make in Minecraft). "It's highly detailed, and had to be perhaps the second-most ambitious thing I have ever done in Minecraft — behind my next project!" I love a good tease, but I'll let you in on a secret: it's going to be a 1:1 build of the British Pacific Fleet, a World War Two Royal Navy fleet!

It sure sounds like there's a lot of work that goes into making a nice big church. "The ends of the transepts, diagonal windows and the pure amount of detail the Abbey holds were all challenging," says Tigah Z. Overall, the build took 24 hours over 9 days to finish. Less time than it took to build the original Westminster Abbey (probably), but still a big chunk of time!

There are some impressive details in the build, just like with the real thing — only, where the Westminster Abbey builders had stone and chisels in their arsenal, Tigah Z had sandstone and spruce wood. Look closely at the windows and you'll see trapdoors, fences, and upside-down stairs to create that lacy look that fancy old church windows have.

If you're interested in seeing the other competitors for Planet Minecraft's UNESCO contest, you can find all the entries and details here! Bonus points for every one you've visited in real life.

Thanks to Ryer for one of the renders.