Atomium, Brussels

The Atomium was built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, nine steel spheres arranged to represent an iron crystal unit cell magnified 165 billion times. The engineer André Waterkeyn designed it at a moment when atomic energy was widely understood as the technology that would power a prosperous future; the building was a literal statement of that belief in steel. The original aluminium cladding was replaced with polished stainless steel in a 2004-2006 restoration that gives the structure its current mirror finish. It is now 102 metres tall, still the most architecturally singular thing in Brussels, and what it meant in 1958 is part of what it is now.

The Structure

Five of the nine spheres are accessible to visitors, connected by escalators running through 45-degree inclined tube corridors. The uppermost sphere has a panoramic restaurant and viewing area with views across Brussels; on clear days you can see Antwerp. The permanent exhibition inside covers the history of Expo 58, the Cold War context of the fair, and the Atomium’s own construction and restoration. Two spheres are used as flexible exhibition spaces.

Admission is available at the entrance or online. Booking online is recommended for school holidays and weekends. Daily 10am to 6pm, extended hours in summer.

Getting There

Metro line 6 to Heysel station; the structure is visible immediately from the exit. About 20 minutes from central Brussels.

Mini-Europe

Mini-Europe sits directly beside the Atomium and contains 350 scale models of European monuments at 1:25 scale with working details: the Etna erupts, the Berlin Wall falls, trains pass through the Swiss Alps. An hour is enough; combined tickets with the Atomium save a few euros.

Laeken

The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, the large iron-and-glass 19th-century royal garden structures, are open to the public for a few weeks each spring (typically April-May). Laeken Park is open year-round for walking.

Brussels Beyond Heysel

The Grand Place, Brussels’ central medieval square, is one of the best-preserved in Europe. The Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts holds Belgian painting from the Flemish Primitives through Magritte. The Magritte Museum in a separate building on the Place Royale is the most focused individual museum visit in the city. Belgian fries (eaten with mayonnaise, not ketchup, and in a paper cone) are from Friterie Antoine near Place Jourdan or any decent friterie; don’t eat them from the Grand Place tourist circuit.