Chicago’s towering skyline is shrinking. The city’s iconic landmarks, which provide the sprawling backdrop for major city events including the Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza, can soon be built in miniatureusing Lego bricks.

Lego will introduce a 444-piece Chicago skyline set for $39.99 as part of its Lego Architecture Skyline Series. The Chicago set willfeature building blocks for skyscrapers including the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center, colorful buildings including the red CNA tower and the white Wrigley Building, as well as the Michigan Avenue Bridge and Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate, commonly referred to the Bean, according to a news release.

The new set will be available on Dec. 11 in three Chicago area stores: the Chicago Architecture Foundation retail shop at 224 S. Michigan Ave., the Lego store at Water Tower Place at 835 N. Michigan Ave., and the Legoland Discovery Center near Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. It will be available online and in stores nationwide in January.

Chicago joins other cities in the skyline series – including Berlin, Venice, and New York, which features the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, One World Trade Center and the Flatiron Building. Additionally, individual landmarks are sold separately, including the White House, Eiffel Tower and Buckingham Palace.

Chicago-area native and architectAdam Reed Tucker, a Lego Certified Professional, first created the Lego architecture line in 2008 with the Lego Group but the line is now designed out of Denmark, a spokesman for Lego said. Tucker is showcasing more than a dozen of his Lego structures – including the Golden Gate Bridge and Roman Colosseum- in the temporary “Brick by Brick” exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry through February.

The John Hancock Center andWillisTower werepreviously sold as separate Lego sets but were retired in 2011 and 2013 respectively, a spokesman said.

Many local landmarks are not featured in the Lego Architecture Skyline series for Chicago. Missing from the set areTrump Tower, Marina City, the Navy Pier Ferris wheel and sports venues Wrigley Field and Soldier Field .

lvivanco@chicagotribune.com Twitter: @lvivanco