Myeongdong Cathedral

Parts by step

1. Step 1: Baseplate

   45 parts · 1 kinds

   Make a 40x72 base from forty-five 8x8 plates.

2. Step 2: Courtyard

   1,148 parts · 4 kinds

   Pave around the cathedral with light gray and dark gray stones.

3. Step 3: Name plaque and step

   11 parts · 5 kinds

   Place one gray step in front of the main facade.

4. Step 4: Walls, courses 1–2

   250 parts · 6 kinds

   Run one course of gray bricks for the base, then stagger red embossed-brick-pattern bricks above. Black bricks mark the doors on the aisle fronts.

5. Step 5: Walls, courses 3–4

   379 parts · 6 kinds

   Build the pilasters in gray and place black bricks where the aisle windows go.

6. Step 6: Walls, courses 5–7

   446 parts · 7 kinds

   Top the aisle windows with 1x3 arches and run a gray band on course 7. Put 1x4 arches over the aisle doors too.

7. Step 7: Buttresses

   102 parts · 3 kinds

   Stand gray buttresses outside the aisle walls and cap them with 45° slopes. Raise tall buttresses at the two front corners.

8. Step 8: Aisle roofs

   160 parts · 3 kinds

   The aisles have lean-to roofs sloping outward. Lay plates on the walls and add two rows of 45° slopes, stepped.

9. Step 9: Nave and transept walls

   325 parts · 9 kinds

   Raise the nave, transept and chancel walls to the height of the aisle roofs, with tall windows in the transept walls.

10. Step 10: Clerestory and rose windows

    306 parts · 8 kinds

    Open clerestory windows above the aisle roofs and fit round rose windows on the transept ends. The top course is a gray band.

11. Step 11: Nave roof

    110 parts · 7 kinds

    Lay plates on the walls, add 45° slopes twice from each side, and cap the middle with double slopes for the ridge.

12. Step 12: Transept roof

    117 parts · 6 kinds

    The transept has a gable roof running left to right, with triangular gables at each end.

13. Step 13: Chancel roof

    69 parts · 7 kinds

    The chancel roof is hipped at the end. Slopes wrap the end and corners in two tiers and join the ridge.

14. Step 14: Bell tower, courses 1–7

    130 parts · 7 kinds

    Build the tower with gray at the two studs of each corner and red brick in the middle. Make the main door at the front with black bricks and a 1x6 arch, and run a gray band.

15. Step 15: Bell tower, courses 8–16

    174 parts · 6 kinds

    Make a tall two-stud window at the front, and windows on the sides and back.

16. Step 16: Bell tower, courses 17–21

    62 parts · 9 kinds

    Top the tall window with an arch, fit a round tile on a brick with side studs for the round window, and run a gray band.

17. Step 17: Bell tower, courses 22–25

    82 parts · 9 kinds

    Fit a white round tile for the clock face, and make belfry openings on all four sides with grille bricks and arches.

18. Step 18: Tower top

    66 parts · 7 kinds

    Cover with a gray plate one stud wider, raise a gable on each side, and add small spires at the four corners.

19. Step 19: Spire

    23 parts · 7 kinds

    Narrow two tiers with 75° corner and side slopes, then finish with a round brick and a cone for a sharp point.

20. Step 20: Pinnacles on the front buttresses

    8 parts · 4 kinds

    Top the front corner buttresses with small spires of round plates and cones.

21. Step 21: Stair turret

    20 parts · 4 kinds

    Stack gray round bricks at the front right of the bell tower for the stair turret, and top it with a green cone roof.

About the building

Designed by Fr. Eugène Coste and consecrated in 1898, this was the first church in Korea built of brick in the Gothic style. Its Latin-cross plan has a central nave with an aisle on each side, a nave about 23 m high and a tower about 45 m tall. It was built with some twenty kinds of Korean-made bricks in red and gray. It is designated a Historic Site.

Model details

Size

32.0 × 57.6 × 33.1 cm high

Difficulty

Hard

Updated

2026-09-24

Set history

Every part and color has a set record since 2020 (Rebrickable 2026-09-24)

Design notes

At about 1.2 m per stud, the model follows the encyclopedia dimensions (about 68 m long, 29 m wide, a 23 m nave and a tower of about 47 m): 58 studs long, a 26-stud transept, a nave ridge of about 50 plates and a tower top of about 103 plates. The red walls are staggered bricks with an embossed brick pattern, and the base, pilasters and bands are gray brick. Windows in the aisles, clerestory, transepts and chancel are black bricks topped with 1x3 arches, and round tiles on bricks with side studs form rose windows on the transept ends. The bell tower has a main door under a 1x6 arch, a tall window under a 1x4 arch, a round window, a white clock face and grille belfry openings, topped by gables on all four sides, small corner spires and a two-tier spire of 75° slopes. Buttresses line the aisles, and tall buttresses with pinnacles and a stair turret stand at the front. Pointed arches are simplified to round ones, the chancel end is chamfered, and the cross on top is not modeled. Every part passed the automated build check.

References

• Myeongdong Cathedral, Seoul — Heritage Search, Korea Heritage Service (공식 영문 명칭) · ⓒ 국가유산청(Korea Heritage Service), All rights reserved — 명칭·사실 확인용으로만 참고, 본문·사진 미사용
• 명동성당 — 한국민족문화대백과사전, 한국학중앙연구원 (치수·평면·설계자 확인) · ⓒ 한국학중앙연구원 — 사실 확인용으로만 참고, 본문·사진 미사용
• 설계자 코스트 신부(Eugène Coste, 1896년 사망) — 파리외방전교회 아카이브 · 저작권 보호기간 만료 근거(설계자 사망 1896년) 확인용으로만 참고
• Myeongdong Cathedral front.jpg — Tristan Surtel, 위키미디어 공용 · CC BY-SA 4.0 — 비례 측정에만 사용
• Cathédrale de Séoul - 1924.jpg — 파리외방전교회, 위키미디어 공용 · 퍼블릭 도메인 — 평면 구성 확인에만 사용