The English Are Attempting To Build A Full-Scale Replica Of Minas Tirith

Good news for anyone who’s ever wanted to live in the realm of Gondor from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series:

You’re a nerrrd.

A team of architects and structural engineers who are also gigantic nerrrds are endeavoring to build the city of Minas Tirith, for realsies. A life-sized, thousand-foot castle, complete with residential and commercial space that you can rent or buy, in an as-of-yet undisclosed location in Southern England.

Starting your own city isn’t cheap, and the folks at Realize Minas Tirith have set the goal on their Indiegogo campaign at $2.9 billion (U.S.). So far, they’ve raised $390. The city’s budget breaks down like this:

  • $2.1 billion for building materials
  • $23 million for land
  • $290 million for labor
  • $487 million for rescue services after an avalanche of pussy descends on you when you tell people you’ve got a penthouse at the top of the White City

Or, you know. Actually, they’re going to use the remaining $450 million or so to run the city until an estimated 2053. That is, presumably, if you want to spend any money getting this city built. The rewards packages really vary, here:

  • $25 — Your name on a memorial in the city!
  • $40 — Free tour of the city!
  • $80 — A nameplate somewhere in the city!

Then it really jumps up a notch:

  • $780 — A free night’s stay in the city!
  • $78,000 — A street named after you! In the city!
  • $623,000 — A two bedroom apartment on the lowest level!
  • $2.7 million — The penthouse!

I mean, actually, less than $3 million for the penthouse suite in the City of Kings is still cheaper than a house in Malibu. They don’t talk specifics here, but, for that price, I assume you get to be the Steward of Gondor and burn people alive as often as you want.

The campaign has 50 days left and will thankfully not be keeping any of the money earned if they don’t reach their goal, because, if there was one easy way to grab cash from dorks, it’d be to claim you’re going to build a big castle somewhere for them to play wizards and orcs in and then just not do that at all.

via Gizmag

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