Brussels – dull European politics, jazz, potato fries and beer right? Well yes, but that’s far from all there is to this captivating and bizarre city; the capital of Europe features one of the most eye catching monuments in any European city, the Atomium.

A piece of accidental art, it’s an iron molecule enlarged 165 billion times, 102 metres tall, clad in stainless steel.

There’s nothing haphazard about its design, but the Atomium is accidental because it was never meant to be a permanent structure. It was designed for the 1958 World Exhibition in Belgium by engineer André Waterkeyn and architechts André and Jean Polak.

It demonstrated the power of the Belgian iron industry, but also the the hope of the post war years;

“It symbolised the democratic will to maintain peace among all the nations, faith in progress, both technical and scientific and, finally, an optimistic vision of the future of a modern, new, super-technological world for a better life for mankind.”

The Atomium was renovated from March 2004, February 2006 and the old aluminium sheets were replaced with stainless steel. The old aluminium was sold off as souvenirs to pay for the renovation.

In a mark of just how popular it is to Belgians, a special €2 coin was released to celebrating the renovation being completed.

Those spheres aren’t just for staring at either; there’s a permanent exhibition dedicated to the 1958 Exhibition in the two base spheres, temporary exhibitions of art, and from the very top sphere you can get “only true panoramic view of Brussels”.

At 102m it’s not for vertigo sufferers but the view is so good that to the North East, in clear weather, you can even see Antwerp over 40km away.

Information

Square de l’Atomium, B-1020 Brussels

5 minutes from Heysel metro station line 6 and there are several free car parks near the Atomium

Tomas Mowlam

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Image Credit: o palsson

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