Well it’s been a bit quiet on the Lego front recently, so what’s all this about then?

True enough. After the Lego London Tube map and of course the festive creativity of the wonderful Lego Christmas tree at St Pancras station last year, our friends at Bright Bricks have been keeping under the radar. Until yesterday, when they unveiled their latest creation – a giant Lego version of the famous Incan citadel Machu Picchu, slap bang in London’s Covent Garden.

Jeez, they used a fair few bricks there I guess?

A quarter of a million, to be precise. After all the hard work by the BB team (five employees of the company took three weeks to complete the project) it was the television presenter Ben Fogle who turned up to steal the glory by putting the last one in place on Sunday morning.

Typical. So was this just for fun then?

Not just for fun – standing some 3.2 metres high, the model is part of a campaign to attract tourists to Peru and raise awareness of the site.

“Peru is a fascinating country and Machu Picchu never ceases to amaze me,” Mr Fogle said. “I hope the Lego model inspires people to experience the real Machu Picchu first hand.”

As regular readers of the site will know, Bright Bricks specialises in creating unusual LEGO constructions. Working for them sounds like a dream job, too…

To celebrate the unveiling of the Lego model, Peruvian musicians and traditional dancers entertained the crowds in Covent Garden crowds, who also got to taste Peruvian chocolate, which was an added bonus. Machu Picchu was discovered by westerners in 1911 and major celebrations took place in Peru to mark the centenary last year.

It was an American explorer – Hiram Bingham – who stumbled across the abandoned Incan citadel.

Located more than 2400 metres above sea level in the Peruvian Andes mountains, the site is thought to date from the 15th century and is thus from the Pre-Columbian era.