Final brick added to complete Lego model of British cathedral

It has taken three years and 300,000 bricks to complete, but finally a replica scale model of one of Britain's most stunning cathedrals was completed Monday.

The model of the 1,000-year-old Durham Cathedral in northeast England was created by the public using only Lego bricks.

It stands 1.7 meters high, 3.84 meters long, and 1.53 meters wide and has gone on display in the museum's new Open Treasure section, a display and exhibition charting the history of the cathedral spanning more than 10 centuries.

Cathedral officials say it is the largest Lego model ever built by the general public.

People from across the world donated one pound (1.31 U.S. dollars) for each Lego brick as part of a project costing over 14 million U.S. dollars.

The cathedral, a Unesco World Heritage Site, already attracts thousands of visitors every year and the new permanent Open Treasure exhibition area is expected to attract an extra 120,000 visitors annually.

Work started on the model in July 2013, with the finished work now standing alongside relics dating back to the days before the cathedral appeared on the site.

The cathedral, built during Britain's Norman era, is in the Romanesque style and was built to house the shrine of St. Cuthbert, replacing an earlier church constructed in honor of the revered holy man.

The final brick was added Monday by seven-year-old Pearl Richardson from nearby Newcastle after she won a competition to put the 300,000th piece into place. Her father is employed as a stonemason at the cathedral. Endit