Some of you may remember in 2019 when it hit the news that the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France caught fire. The iconic landmark was severely damaged, but the pledge to rebuild happened. Work began right away and was just finished for a re-opening in December 2024. It’s fitting that LEGO released #21061-1: Notre-Dame de Paris on 1 June 2024. This Architecture set contains 4,383 pieces and retails for $229.99. This works out to $0.052 per piece which is a great price, but you also need to factor in that this set has a lot of smaller pieces.

The box shows the set on the front and then another view on the back. The back also shows dimensions of the set and then the four different builds based on the historical timeline of the build. The design and build of the set is done to match how it was built over many years. The instructions point out each step along the way which is a fun learning experience while you build.

The contents are 34 numbered parts bags. It starts off with a few bags and then a white box with more bags inside. Once you open the white box, you get the rest. Each number has one bag, but for some reason there are a few sections of the instructions that call for multiple numbers at once. Not sure why they didn’t just have fewer numbers, but in the end you get the same build so I guess it doesn’t matter much.

It’s a pretty thick instruction book with a lot of details about the actual building and the parts of the build itself. It was a good opportunity to learn about the building and its architecture along the way.

I’m going to do things a little differently for this review. Usually I write about each step but I’m not an expert at the architecture of Notre-Dame. I don’t want to just quote out of the instructions either. So instead, I am just putting the pictures in so you can see the progress if you want or you can just scroll down to the bottom of the review for my wrap up.

Builds 21 and 22

Builds 27 28 and 29 30

Overall, it was a great build. I enjoyed some of the different techniques used to achieve the different representations of structures they were trying to capture. It really does look like a smaller scaled version of the building which is great! It’s a pretty expensive set at $230, but the price per piece is rather low. You need to factor in that there are a lot of smaller pieces though so that does come into play. You’re not getting a very large building, but instead a smaller, more detailed structure. No miifigures either, but that is standard for the Architecture line.

I’d recommend this set to fans of the Architecture line, those looking for a challenging build, or maybe those looking to capture an iconic structure from history. Avoid this one if you don’t like putting a lot of small pieces together or get sick of seeing a lot of tan pieces. Not sure if we’ll see this one on sale ever, but you can always catch it with double insider points or with a GWP.

Some final pictures of the set are below.

Happy building!