The LEGO Group and LEGO Australia celebrated the launch of the official Sydney Opera House model with replicated images on the historic building last week.

Created to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Australian landmark, the Sydney Opera House model went on sale Sunday and joins the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower and Tower Bridge in the LEGO Creator Expert range.

Requiring close to 3,000 bricks the new model took three years to create and includes four instruction manuals.

“Over 8.2 million people visit the Opera House each year and it has been a great honor and challenge to be tasked with helping immortalise the famous structure in LEGO bricks,” says Jamie Berard, design manager specialist, LEGO. “It’s wonderful to think about the millions of hours of fun people will spend building it for themselves around the world. The intricacies of the LEGO Creator Expert Sydney Opera House model are fascinating, and it replicates so many of the original elements, you’ll never get tired of looking at it. This model is one of the most difficult models I have ever worked on in my seven years at the LEGO Group.”