12 year Brynjar Karl left Iceland to visit the Belfast Titanic Visitor Attraction recently as a guest of honour after a video of himself building a six metre scale replica of the doomed Titanic went viral online.
He spent six months building the ship (made entirely from Lego blocks) by himself and with the help of his family at home in Reykjavik.
He said he decided to start the project after seeing YouTube clips about the Titanic online; then after studying the history, size, and design of White Star’s most famous cruise liner he set to.
Brynjar, who want’s to Captain cruise ships when he’s older got to explore the drawing offices and slipways where the original was built…
“It is very beautiful here,” he said. “I liked trains, but watched YouTube and when I saw the history of Titanic it got into me.
I was like ‘wow, this ship is very cool’ and I learned every day about it. I just wanted to discover more than trains and that was Titanic.”
Brynjar, who has autism spoke out about his project in the hopes that other children would feel more confident in themselves and realise its ok to talk openly about their condition.
“Some people are scared of their autism and what it will do to the family,” he said. “It is okay having autism. It is a special gift.
“When you do things over and over again you get really good at it. I have been building Lego ever since I can remember and I have become a talented builder.”
Titanic Belfast chief executive Tim Husbands also commented to say that Brynjar is an “inspiration”.
“It highlights again Titanic’s enduring appeal and its ability to capture hearts and minds throughout the world,”
Do you think you could do better?
Let Brynjar know what you think of his model in the comments below…
