Atomium and Brussels!

[motodraconis]

I was still under the weather from a nasty cold, so didn't explore Brussels in huge detail, reserving my strength for the annual pilgrimage to Gala Nocturna. I'm gambling that we'll be back next year anyway, but one place I DID NOT WANT TO MISS was the Atomium.



From the Atomium website...The Atomium was the main pavilion and icon of the World Fair of Brussels (1958), commonly called Expo 58. 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 peaceful use of atomic energy for scientific purposes embodied these themes particularly well and, so, that is what determined the shape of the edifice. At 102 metres high, with its nine interconnected spheres, it represents an elementary iron crystal enlarged 165 billion (thousand million) times. It was dreamed up by the engineer André Waterkeyn (1917-2005). The spheres, though, were fitted out by the architects André and Jean Polak.



The Atomium was not intended to survive beyond the 1958 World Fair but its popularity and success soon made it a key landmark, first of Brussels then internationally.



It's recently been refurbished. (2004-2006) replacing the faded aluminium with stainless steel, hence the mirror shine! Now you can take a lift to the top sphere.



Queues for the lift are a bit tiresome, but ya gotta do it!



We stopped in the top ball cafe for beer...



And tasty waffle with hot choc and cream.



Returning to the ground floor, you can take an escalator to the upper ball, and explore.



After the queues for top ball, the rest of the Atomium was remarkably free of visitors, we practically had it to ourselves. Red Min and Sorgina resting in level 5...





I want a house like this...







One of the balls contained an "Orange Plastic" exhibition.







Want this desk and chair!



One of the highlights was the lightshow escalator down, though alas, my photos were not very good.







AAAAAAARRRGHH! IT WAS AMAZING. LOVED IT, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE!!! I've wanted to visit this place ever since I was a tiny child.

Oh... and we saw a bit of Brussels too, the Grotty Market...







The famous pissy boy...





And the less famous, equal opportunities pissy girl...



Who seems to have run out of steam as it t'were...



Still blown away by the Atomium!

Comments

[timscience.livejournal.com]

That looks AMAZING especially the exhibition of orange plastic

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

You HAVE to go and see it!

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is amazing

[shermarama]

Oooh, I didn't realise it had so much inside it - I'd assumed you could only get into one or two of the balls. (I've seen it in the distance when passing through Brussels, but next time I should make the effort to go out there.)

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

5 balls you can get into! Ball 6 is kid's world, you can peer in or hire it for kids parties (can it be hired for adults? That would be excellent!)

I loved it, it was totally sci-fi.

[ninshubur.livejournal.com]

I thought you would like the Atomium and am glad that you did. Also feeling slightly smug that I got MUCH better photos in the disco escalator. So there! :-)

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

EVERYONE got better photos than me. Sorgina's were really good.

[crazycrone.livejournal.com]

Wow! I don't think I could cope with that escalator, gorgeous as it is, but that really is amazing.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

It was like some sort of Tron-style vortex!

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

Those are great photos. I've never been particularly interested in it from the outside, but the waffles and the orange plastic look unmissable.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I don't know if the orange madness is a temporary exhibit, the waffles will be likely a permanent option!

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

we appear to have very similar photos of the atomium! :-) I would have had an amazing video of the disco elevator, were I pressing the right button, doh! Still, I got a couple of good photos of it before I tried to find the video setting in darkness.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

It's a very photogenic building, I loved it!

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

I have many photos of staircases! I like staircases and I was making up for not being allowed to take any staircase photos at the Horta Museum. :-)

[spodlife]

I'd heard The Atom was looking rusty, so great to see it shiny in the sunlight.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I think it was originally clad in aluminium, and so was getting that odd murky tarnish that aluminium gets when it's left out in the elements. Now it's recently refurbished in stainless steel, a technological building material upgrade!

[honest-illusion.livejournal.com]

These awesome pictures remind me a lot of Star Trek and I'd love to see this place someday! :D

Also, I love your snake bracelet!

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I felt like I was in a scene from Doctor Who! I would love to have it as a house to live in. A futuristic palace!