LEGO Prince of Persia MOC - Alamut Gate

[Svelte]

** Please note all pics are links to high-res flickr versions **

On his quest to pursue the mysterious Dagger of Time, Dastan journeys to the Persian fort of Alamut to rescue the Princess Tamina. To do so he must pass through the ornate Alamut Gate and encounter the denizens of the bazaar within...

Hero shot of Dastan all camelled up as he passes through the ornate arch of the Alamut Gate.

View of the upper part of the Alamut Gate, showing the three top domes and the recessed balconies built into the Gate wall. This MOC explores Arabic architectural detailing using the new pointed arch and dome pieces. It is loosely based on a gate from the Amber fort of Jaipur built by the Mughal rulers of India.

The recessed arch detail on the front of the gate. The Gate is built almost entirely in 4 colours - white, tan, dark tan and pearl gold - no black, bley or red-brown pieces at all - even as filler on the inside! The only exceptions to the four-colour rule are the blue half-Technic pins which hold the flower motifs in place.

Front-on view of the Alamut Gate.

Side view, showing modular connection and wall detail.

An intricate mosaic plays on the repetition of a single form - in this case, a headlight brick!

On the rear side of the gate, customers and merchants haggle in the Alamut bazaar.

Detail view of this more informal arch on the interior of the Gate.

Overview of the Bazaar.

A snake-charmer teases a deadly cobra from its basket with a tune from his flute. The stair visible in the back of the stall leads up to the balconies seen from the front.

A woman and her son stop to watch the performing monkey clapping cymbals together a little discordantly. The lady tosses a coin into the monkey's cute little upturned fez.

'If you cheat me, I will kill you!' This desert ruffian intimidates a seller of second-hand pots, bottles and curios. A Persian cat looks away disdainfully.

Back view, front on.

Bonus top-down shot of the lovely domes and tiling on the roof of the gate.

A picture of a gate at the Amber Fort in Jaipur which I used as referebce when planning this creation.

[CMP]

Awesome! Looks giant, and even the life at the brim of the bazaar is lively! I love the snake charmer and the monkey. Can we have a zoom on the camel's saddle? It looks interesting...

[Capt. Stabbin]

Looks Awesome!! I love the mosaic wall!! Nice techniqe, I've never seen it before. Keep up the good work!

[Clone OPatra]

You never cease to amaze, Svelte!

Great parts usages all around here: the Fabuland (I think) bags on the camel, the celebration Luke torso on the mother, to name two.

If there are stairs, is there any interior? Why is Tamina just watching up above instead of traveling with Dastan? And why did Dastan take his shirt off again?

[ILikePi]

Yet another stunning MOC! I love how the arch has multiple arches behind it to give it a staggered look. The use of headlight bricks for the wall detail is a very neat idea, and there's a bunch of pearl gold dome and dark tan goodness too!

Just wondering, how much space do you have in the interior?

Edited April 7, 2010 by ILikePi

[def]

Really beautiful You get a lot out of intricacy. The series of arches and the headlight panels are particularly nice.

There is a lot of beautiful Arabic architecture, and it's great to see it coming to life with all TLG's new pieces.

[WesternOutlaw]

Very nice Svelte! This MOC puts the LEGO set to shame. I love the colors and the design with the use of multiple arches leading into the interior really looks stunning. Great job!

[Svelte]

Can we have a zoom on the camel's saddle? It looks interesting...

Clone O'Patra is right, it's a Fabuland saddle. I picked it up in a BL order on a whim about a year ago, so I'm glad to finally put it to use!

I love the mosaic wall!! Nice techniqe, I've never seen it before. Keep up the good work!

It's not a new technique, but it's surprisingly under-used. You need a lot of spare headlights for it!

If there are stairs, is there any interior? Why is Tamina just watching up above instead of traveling with Dastan? And why did Dastan take his shirt off again?

There isn't really an interior, although it would be possible to make the back wall panels removable. The idea was more to suggest how Princess Tamina could access the enclosed balconies at the front. Adding too much clutter to the top floor also would interfere with the sharp relief of the arched windows, so I chose not to worry about it.

Just wondering, how much space do you have in the interior?

As above!

There is a lot of beautiful Arabic architecture, and it's great to see it coming to life with all TLG's new pieces.

Yes, if only they had these invented these lovely pointy pieces *before* they made a giant Taj Mahal in which every arch detail is the wrong shape

Very nice Svelte! This MOC puts the LEGO set to shame. I love the colors and the design with the use of multiple arches leading into the interior really looks stunning. Great job!

Thanks, TheBrickster! I had to dismantle 2 Grand Emporium roofs to free up enough white pointy arches for this creation. It's a parts-hungry monster!

[WesternOutlaw]

I had to dismantle 2 Grand Emporium roofs to free up enough white pointy arches for this creation. It's a parts-hungry monster!

Well worth the effort though. The result is very pretty. I love the color combination.

[Inconspicuous]

Amazing MOC Svelty! You've really lavished upon this one, with all of the fancy parts and destroyed Emporiums. I think it was well worth the cost to make. The arch techniques are beautiful and the headlight mosaic never ceases to amaze me. As always, your minifig selection is great too!

You just don't stop the awesome creations, do you?

[Hewman]

Some adjectives:

Beautiful, clever, elegant, classy, creative, authentic, superb, JEALOUS (of your ability, assortment of lego pieces and this masterpiece).

There are some brilliant touches here, the flesh-handed monkey with cymbals, the headlight brick mosaic works perfectly. I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to pay big $s for such a MOC.

Edited April 7, 2010 by hewman

[JCC1004]

You've really blown me away with this Svelte! It's one of the best MOCs I've ever seen. You have the Persian looking down very well. It looks very warm and welcoming. The colour scheme is one of the best parts. The headlight brick mosaic is well well ... awesome. The arches are beautiful with the rail pieces. There is a lot more to cover. The bazaar is a very great addition. The figures look pretty good. I think that the woman's boy has hit puberty early. Great MOC Svelte. You should consider making some and selling them. Also would you mind if I had this as my computer wallpaper? I might just stop teasing you on that razor cut you got.

[RileyC]

Fantastic Svelte!

The arch looks so perfect and the head light brick mosaic is so clever.

I would love to see this in between all your other modular buildings!

[lightningtiger]

OMG !

That is AWESOME 'Svelte' !

It really looks like the photo of a real gate way - too COOL !

Detailed just enough without looking too much - as Goldielocks once said 'Just right !' - I'm a conformist! 'Svelte' I'm a conformist! !

[UsernameMDM]

Nice! Looks like your Grand Emporium has a new entrance.

[The Penguin]

Amazing work! )

I've just read an article about PoP in Empire, and now I see your great MOC! Very well done!

But the best thing about your MOC is those nice little scenes you've added: makes it live, so to say. ) I'm eagerly waiting for you to impress us with your future creations! )

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[squidman85]

Amazing!What a great detail!I very like some archs and the idea with mosaic.

[fff]

Impressive. The mosaic, the arc-repetition, the colours, and the original model in which this is based on. Really nice!

[Rick]

I already saw the teaser pics at flickr, it turned out great Svelte. I The arch shapes and all the little details you added are true works of art and I really like the headlight brick decorations on the side wall. You really LEGO-fied the proportions of the Amber Fort gate well. Shows that PoP is craving some LEGO exclusives.

[gunm]

Wow! The movie is still over a month away, and already there's some wonderful MOCs out there. Amazing work, Svelte!

[MagPiesRUs]

Ooh, that looks fantastic! You've captured the Middle-Eastern look perfectly. Great use of those lovely new arch pieces. The tiers of arches running along the entranceway look stunning. I love those cool domed towers at the top too. They almost make the building look like an old Arabic 10197 Fire Brigade.

Great job Svelte.

[roamingstop]

So how many PoP and GE (or other) models were used in the development of your MOC? Obviously parts intensive but some really nice ideas... Thanks

[Delta 38]

Interesting. Nice detail to the windows and patterns. I think the colour scheme works perfectly, too.

[mautara]

I like it very much!

and the mosaic is brilliant! I think I'll use this technique.

[Sandy]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

I absolutely love the mosaic as well, and will shamelessly use it in the future for my MOCs. The fact that this creation only uses four colors is astounding as well, because it is far from being simplistic.

I'm intrigued by the minifigs. Are they all official torsos, or are there decals thrown into the mix? I don't recognize the yellow torso on the white-hooded woman, nor the white torso of the man in the white turban...