LEGO Icons 10307 Eiffel Tower – everything you need to know

10307 Eiffel Tower is out now, so here’s everything you need to know about this latest record-breaking LEGO Icons set.

Never content to rest on its laurels, the LEGO Group continually one-ups itself with its late-year releases. Last year saw the mammoth 75313 AT-AT and 10294 Titanic arrive on shelves, and this year 10307 Eiffel Tower has come along to blow both of those sets out of the water (in piece count if nothing else).

Available now at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores, just in time for Black Friday, here are all the key details worth knowing about 10307 Eiffel Tower.

It’s big, tall and expensive…

‘Big, tall and expensive’ may be underselling things here: not only is 10307 Eiffel Tower the tallest set of all time, it’s also the second-biggest by piece count (31203 World Map still bests it, but certainly not in volume), and the fifth-most expensive set of all time. Standing 149cm tall with 10,001 pieces in the box, 10307 Eiffel Tower retails for £554.99 / $629.99 / €629.99. Big numbers all round.

…and there’s a reason for that

10307 Eiffel Tower is the product of a LEGO design process undertaken without limits. According to LEGO designer Rok Žgalin Kobe, who took the tower’s sketch model and turned it into a shelf-ready model, the scale and scope of the Icons set were not predetermined. Instead, the size of the tower was ultimately decided by the roller coaster track elements used for the arches around the base.

It’s not colour-accurate

The real-life Eiffel Tower is regularly repainted in three shades of ‘Eiffel Tower brown’, to a schedule originally outlined by Gustave Eiffel himself – but 10307 Eiffel Tower is built entirely in dark grey. That’s apparently because the design team wanted to invite comparisons to 2007’s also-grey 10181 Eiffel Tower, didn’t want to pull focus away from the set’s sheer size, and had more existing dark grey pieces to work with than brown. Now you know!

It has a single moving part

At first glance, 10307 Eiffel Tower looks like a static display model without any functionality. And for the most part, those initial impressions are pretty much correct: with one exception. As pointed out by Kobe himself in the set’s designer video, the tower has a single moveable part in its Tricolore flag, which can be arranged to reflect which way the wind’s blowing. Get a lot of wind in your house, do you, Rok?

It’s packed with inventive use of parts

As you’d imagine from a 10,001-piece set, there’s plenty of scope within 10307 Eiffel Tower to reuse existing elements in new and innovative ways. Kobe has revealed just two examples within the designer video, including the use of dark grey ingots and hot dogs across particular moments within the build, but – having built our review copy – there are so many more to discover, too…

It’s to scale with two other LEGO sets

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10307 Eiffel Tower is built at a scale of approximately 1:200 to the real thing – as too are two other LEGO sets, ready to be displayed alongside the tower in what would easily be the most expensive corner of your room. Both 10294 Titanic and 21042 Statue of Liberty are to scale with 10307 Eiffel Tower, with the Architecture set also based on a landmark partly designed by Gustave Eiffel. Synergy.

It’s a set absolutely worth building – if you have space

At 149cm tall, 57cm wide and 57cm deep, you’re going to need some serious space to display 10307 Eiffel Tower (let alone the cash to buy it in the first place). But if you have the means, this is one set absolutely worth taking the time to experience, as you can read in our in-depth and detailed review.

It’s available now, with multiple free gifts

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For a limited time only – until November 28, or while stocks last – every copy of 10307 Eiffel Tower comes with a free 40579 Eiffel’s Apartment. Across the Black Friday weekend, you’ll also score two free gifts-with-purchase in 40564 Winter Elves Scene and 40563 Tribute to LEGO House (until November 27) or 5007488 Drawstring Brick Bag (on November 28).

10307 Eiffel Tower is available now from LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores for £554.99 / $629.99 / €629.99. Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your copy using our affiliate links.