The Hennahs' biggest challenge in constructing the Minas Tirith throne room was right at their feet. Literally. It took 12 painters a month to make the 11,250-square-foot floor look like intricately patterned marble. The classical influences didn't stop there. ''One of the things we decided early on was that Minas Tirith would have a European feel,'' Dan says of the Corinthian columns and Moorish arches. Artists crafted the eight-foot polystyrene sculptures of the fallen kings of Minas Tirith to evoke ancient Greece and lend ''a grandeur'' to the room, he adds. ''It's about giving the city a formality and a history that people can relate to.''

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