Commuters view an enormous colorful globe constructed from LEGO bricks at the Central Station in the Danish capital Copenhagen, on Nov. 20, 2020. Early morning commuters arriving at the Central Station in Copenhagen were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with the presence of an enormous colorful globe dominating the station's concourse on Friday. A monolith constructed from 350,000 LEGO bricks is part of an annual collaboration with the state-owned railway DSB, the LEGO Group, and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Denmark to celebrate this year's Children's Day. (Photo by Anders Kongshaug/Xinhua)
by David Williams, Anders Kongshaug
COPENHAGEN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) --Early morning commuters arriving at the Central Station in the Danish capital Copenhagen were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with the presence of an enormous colorful globe dominating the station's concourse on Friday.
A monolith constructed from 350,000 LEGO bricks is part of an annual collaboration with the state-owned railway DSB, the LEGO Group, and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Denmark to celebrate this year's Children's Day.
"I think that it is very nice. It's a nice symbol of people doing a common project while stuck in the coronavirus pandemic," Sara Baron Oldvig, a mother, told Xinhua.
"The globe's vision for the future shows that even though the world 'closed down' with the corona(virus) pandemic, there is nothing that can put children's creativity, dreams and imagination on pause," said Kathrine Kirk Muff, LEGO Group vice President and head of Social Responsibility and Engagement.
The surface of the globe's five continents is peppered with small buildings designed by children from all over the world during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, according to LEGO.
After the submission of thousands of pictures of their buildings to LEGOs, 430 works were selected and recreated to the globe by professional LEGO model builders. The entire project took 2,700 hours to complete.
"The globe, which we have set up together with two of our regular partners, LEGO and DSB, has given children of the world a voice and the opportunity to share their creative visions with the rest of the world," said Secretary-General of UNICEF Denmark Karen Haekkerup in a press release.
"The fact that it is located at Central Station means that even more children and adults are reminded of how important it is that we listen to the children of the world."
Alongside other UNICEF partners in Denmark, Copenhagen Central Station illuminates itself in a blue glow for the enjoyment of children and adults on Friday.
The globe will be displayed at the Central Station from Nov. 17 to Nov. 23, 2020, after which it will be relocated to Lego's headquarters in Billund, 266 km west of Copenhagen.
Children's Day is a worldwide celebration of the rights that all the children of the world have and which are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989. Enditem
