Is There a Secret Underground Vault Full of Every LEGO Set Ever Made?

The question kind of feels like a conspiracy theory ready to be unravelled but it's a serious question that a lot of people do not know the answer to. LEGO lasts for a long time, it's close to near indestructible (especially feels this way when you tread on one) but do LEGO really keep a copy of every LEGO set in a secret underground vault? Let's not waste any further time and jump straight in to the detail.

Who created the first LEGO set?

The first LEGO set was created by Ole Kirk Christiansen and his son Godtfred. Ole Kirk Christiansen and his son Godtfred created the first LEGO set in 1932. This LEGO set consisted of 8 or 10 wooden toy bricks.

With the LEGO set being made out of wood each brick had to be sanded down by hand to make it smooth before it could be sold. Can you imagine if LEGO was still made of wood now, I mean wow that would be interesting to see...

As far as we are aware there are no wooden LEGO sets stored in their secret vault, however cool this would be I am not sure the concept of keeping a copy was thought about back in 1932!

Why would LEGO want a copy of every set they have ever made?

LEGO are not alone in having their own secret vault to store their products, for example Disney have one and its quite common within the music industry as well.

Before I go on any further as far as I am aware at the time of writing this the oldest set they have stored in their secret underground LEGO vault is from 1966 so its not quite every single set they have made which is fairly understandable.

LEGO has always been popular but go back 50+ years the production and distribution of the sets was not quite as efficient as it these days. Technology and additional services have moved on quite rapidly to allow LEGO to scale and achieve the mammoth business it is today.

Going back to the question, one of the reasons LEGO would want to keep a copy of every set they had made could well come down to legal reasons. They of course hold copyright against their sets but once a set is retired if there was a legal battle that required a LEGO set as evidence the only sets out there would be in a used condition or owned by collectors. Whereas in this scenario LEGO can take their copy (I believe they keep a few not just one of each) and that can be used as required throughout the legal case.

I am not sure there has actually been a scenario where this has happened but its definitely one of the drivers to keep a copy.

The next reason we will cover in the next section... to create a tourist attraction!

Can you visit the LEGO secret vault?

This is an interesting question and surprisingly the answer is yes although its not called a vault, the official term is LEGO Memory Lane.

LEGO have actually made their secret underground vault part of their tour for those serious collectors out there who would get a buzz out of seeing the LEGO hoard! If you are interested check out the LEGO House tour and if you would like further details drop LEGO and email and they will definitely be able to help out.

Additional information

Here are a couple of YouTube videos we found that were great to watch, credit to Beyond the Brick.