LEGO Architecture 21044 Paris Skyline Review

Who needs a trip to Paris when you can have this LEGO 20144 Architecture Paris Skyline set on your shelf? Okay, crossing the channel would still be cool, but this is a great little set, featuring some of the French capital’s most notable buildings.

It’s a striking-looking set and a relatively easy build. Though you may end up side-eyeing the Eiffel Tower, fiddling with it until you’re convinced it’s absolutely straight.

What’s in the box?

The pieces of LEGO Architecture 21044 Paris Skyline are split into four bags: two labelled “1” and two labelled “2”. Would it have been simpler to have four distinct bags and stages? Yes, but this set isn’t so massive that hunting for pieces is problematic.

The manual, like the LEGO Architecture London Skyline set before it, features photographs and facts covering all the buildings that make up this set. Sure, everyone knows the Eiffel Tower, but we got a kick out of learning about Tour Montparnasse, a skyscraper that’s proven a little divisive.

The build

With nearly 650 pieces, LEGO Architecture 21044 Paris will take you around two to three to build. But compared to the London set, it was a little more entertaining to build. In particular, we were glad we didn’t have to mess around with all those transparent blue pieces, putting together a river.

You build each building individually and it’s gratifying to see the skyline come together, location by location. A few of the pieces have been used a little creatively but there’s nothing that seems massively out of place. The toughest part is building the Eiffel Tower, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, there’s a section where you have to basically balance the corner pieces, then secure them with a 2×4 grey block. It’s a little too easy to dislodge them, before you’ve managed to lock them down. Secondly, the main body of the tower will take you a while to get straight.

It’s like the car in Father Ted – you’ll move one bit, then notice that’s pushed another part out of place. Like the London set’s London Eye, we ended up setting for it being “good enough”.

Play or display?

This is absolutely a display set, but it’s not that we can’t imagine the Paris skyline flying through space, battling a LEGO Super Star Destroyer. Instead, it’s that a few of the pieces will work loose if you poke them too much. We’re impressed with the way the set recreates the Grand Palais, but the wings do come off a little too easily.

Besides which, the LEGO Architecture Paris Skyline looks absolutely gorgeous sitting on a shelf, right next to the LEGO Architecture London Skyline set.

Value for money?

Should you pay this set’s £44.99 RRP? We managed to get ours a little cheaper but we’d still have paid full price for this. It’s striking for its scale and it’s an awful lot cheaper than LEGO’s solo Eiffel Tower set.

Should you buy LEGO Architecture 21044 Paris Skyline?

If you’re a fan of the LEGO Skyline sets, or a Francophile, absolutely. The LEGO Architecture Paris set is one of our favourites so far and while we’re not going to say it’s 100% accurate it’s a great approximation of the French capital, given its size and scale.

The one catch, as with all the Skyline sets, is that LEGO has retired lots of them, and hasn’t released any new ones for several years. So if you were looking forward to massive shelf-spanning skyline you’ll have to pay through the nose or give up on your dream. But even as a solo set, this is well worth having.

★★★★