10 things you need to know about the LEGO® Icons Medieval Town Square

Many people are fascinated by the Middle Ages and this period is still often used as a subject in films, video games and of course LEGO® sets.

We're thrilled to be able to travel back to the past (once again) with our brand new LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square, a set packed with stories, characters and fascinating details.

But before you take on this medieval quest, we had a chat with set designer Henrik Rubin Saaby – an expert designer with over 20 years of experience – about the most important things you need to know about this set.

The set is based on a very popular LEGO set from 2009

The LEGO Medieval Village Market 2009 set was the main source of inspiration, but Henrik and his colleagues always agreed that they wanted to design something completely new and exciting that would rise above the original.

The design team studied real medieval villages for inspiration

With so much historical information to choose from, we had to ask Henrik how the design team approached it all. "First I checked which workshops and buildings were present in a real medieval village," says Henrik.

There are five different buildings, each with its own unique function

The research has resulted in a number of buildings and workshops that have not previously appeared in LEGO sets and which - importantly - offer a lot of interesting story possibilities. That's why the design team chose to add an old farm, a cheese factory, an inn, a shieldsmith's workshop and a watchtower to the 3,304-piece LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square.

It is a fully modular display

Henrik and his colleagues wanted to take a different approach and came up with a new way to structure the set, so that builders can choose how to organize the village.

“I wanted to do something we hadn't done before,” Henrik continues, “but I also wanted a medieval street where the houses are a little crooked instead of straight along a straight line.”

Henrik and his team discovered that if they wanted a winding, narrow medieval street, they had to design a set that looked very similar to one of our LEGO Modular Buildings sets seems.

You can build it alone or together

Want to share the fun? Each building comes with a separate instruction booklet, so you can build this set alone or together with friends or family – the choice is yours!

You can even expand your medieval city by combining this set with the LEGO Icons Lion Knights Castle. This set was released in 2023 and is a new interpretation of the classic LEGO Castle theme. So if you also want to add members of the royal family and knights to your display, this set is a great choice.

Do you want more? Then definitely take a look at this one vintage LEGO sets from the 80s and 90s (including the very first LEGO Castle set).

The set contains eight minifigures with different backgrounds

The eight minifigures who call this village home include an innkeeper, thief, carpenter, tax collector, carpet weaver, shieldsmith and tower keeper. When we asked Henrik what job he would choose if he lived in the village, the answer was not long in coming: "Innkeeper!"

The designer came up with a detailed backstory for each character

Henrik wanted this village to feel lived in, so he had to get to know the residents. “When I design a set of characters, I usually develop a backstory for each of them,” says Henrik. "I wonder what kind of life they have, what their name is, what kind of work they do, how their life is connected to that of the other characters and so on. For this set I first created for each of the eight characters wrote a short story, because I find it easier to design the set that way."

The set is packed with secrets, surprises and hidden references

We won't spoil the fun by listing them all, but you can expect hidden compartments, artistic recreations of existing sets and blazons from previous Castle sets.

The return of a very special animal

Depending on your knowledge of the LEGO world, you may have heard of the famous, virtually impossible to find LEGO goat. This humble animal made its appearance in the Robbery of the Mill Village set from 2011 but never appeared again, making it the crown jewel in many collectors' collections.

Well, we have good news: the goat is back!

Whether she's contentedly nibbling on the grass under one of the trees or producing milk for the cheese factory, the beloved goat makes a glorious return in the LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square set, this time in a different colour.

This set is the latest in a long series dating all the way back to 1978

Castle was one of the very first LEGO themes ever and has always been very popular, with a new series of sets released almost every ten years. The Medieval Town Square is the newest member of this family and will certainly appeal to fans of the Castle theme – or anyone who wants to try something new.