A group of British architects are seeking $3 billion, which they will use to construct the fictional city of Minas Tirith from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga.
An ambitious crowdfunding project hopes to bring Lord of the Rings to life in a major way: a group of fans describing themselves as, “An ambitious team of architects and structural engineers” want to create, “a beautiful, inspirational and fully-functioning replica of Peter Jackson’s depiction of Minas Tirith, as seen in his Lord of the Rings films” in the south of England.
Minas Tirith, the white city, is the capital of Gondor. In the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the city seems to be carved from white stone, reaching upwards towards the White Tower of Ecthelion. “Glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze,” as Boromir (Sean Bean) described it in The Fellowship of the Ring.
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We see the city several times throughout the movie saga: in The Two Towers, Boromir’s brother Faramir (David Wenham) has flashbacks to the day his father sent him to fight, and in The Return of the King, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) travels there with Pippin (Billy Boyd), and try to reason with Denethor (John Noble).
Finally, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) takes his place as the rightful King of Gondor, and the saga concludes beautifully with his coronation.
The re-created Minas Tirith would be a fully functioning city, intended for people to live and work in. It would also be a massive tourist attraction for Britain, and tie the country to Tolkien’s work (at the moment, the closest the U.K. gets to a Tolkien tourist attraction is his go-to pub in Oxford).
If the architects reach their projected (massive) funding goal of $3 billion (£1.85 billion), they could have the city ready for business in 2023.
If you’re interested in donating, perks include a tour of the city, your name on a monument, a lord/lady title, and street naming rights.
We would of course absolutely love to see this project come to fruition — but we’re not sure there’s ever been this ambitious of a fandom-related crowdfunding project! Do you think the architects have any hope of reaching their goal in 60 days?!
Click here to donate, and help make Minas Tirith a reality!