Along with the Grand Place, the Atomium is one of the many attractions in the city of Brussels for tourists. As one of the city’s symbols, the Atomium was built for the 1958 World’s Fair and continues to impress with its magnified representation of an iron atom. Located in Laeken, the Atomium is full of surprising facts: here are a few of them.
165 billion
That’s the scale at which the Atomium represents the basic iron crystal: magnified no less than 165 billion times! Looking at the monument’s size, there’s no doubt about it: it stands 102 meters tall! Its nine spheres, each 18 meters in diameter (only six are open to the public), are connected by 20 different tubes and were originally covered in aluminum! A feat of engineering for its time!
A lightning-fast elevator
Back then, the elevator inside the central tube was among the fastest in the world! In just 23 seconds, it could take about twenty people to the top of the building! The monument’s escalators, meanwhile, remain among the longest in Europe: the longest one measures 35 meters! Watch out for vertigo…
It was almost demolished
Just like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Atomium wasn’t supposed to survive its own World’s Fair. In total, the monument was supposed to remain at its original site for six months. But in the face of its growing success, the demolition plan was postponed year after year (notably in 1990, when a renovation seemed more than necessary) before finally being abandoned.
The Atomium appears on our currency
And for good reason: to celebrate the renovation of the structure in 2006, a commemorative two-euro coin was created featuring the monument! Collectors, take note…
A “bizarre” monument
CNN International said so! In 2013, the American news network ranked the Atomium as the “weirdest” monument in Europe, ahead of the Banknote Building in Lithuania and Casa Milà in Barcelona. Do you think the Atomium is weird?