The Monkey was eager to visit Atomium, the bizarre building that has become an international symbol of Brussels. Designed in 1955, Atomium was to be the exhibition hall for the Belgian metallurgical industries at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Noting his clients, the clever designer A. Waterkeyn proposed a scale model of a steel molecule (165 billion:1 scale!) that would consist of a steel structure and aluminum sheathing. Visitors would be whisked to the top sphere (Atomium is 102 meters tall) by a high-speed elevator, from whence they would descend through escalators inside the tubes from exhibitions in one sphere (or atom) to another.

In a move that should be lauded, the rather odd concept was accepted, and the giant molecule was erected. Long after the conclusion of Expo 58, the utterly unique Atomium is still attracting visitors.

Each sphere of the Atomium represents one atom, has a diameter of 18 meters, weighs 2400 tons, and contains two levels of exhibition space. As you can see from this photo, by the time of the Monkey's May 2002 visit the Atomium was in need of some restoration and clean-up. The Monkey is pleased to report that as of Spring 2003 such works are in progress. When the restoration is complete at some point in 2005, the spheres will be back to their gleaming selves, just as they were in 1958.

The Monkey gets a different angle on the Atomium from inside the grounds of the Mini Europe display, which plays counterpoint to Atomium in that it features miniature scale models of buildings and sites from around Europe. You can see another photo of Mini Europe on page 1.

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