Brussels, 1958. The world arrives for Expo 58, and in the middle of the fairgrounds something impossible gleams: a single iron crystal, blown up 165 billion times and made walkable.
Nine shining spheres, each the size of a small house, linked by tubes like sci-fi arteries. It looks equal parts spaceship, sculpture, and chemistry textbook illustration.
The Atomium was never supposed to stick around. Erected in just a year and a half, welded together from vast curved plates of steel, it was meant to wow the crowds and then vanish like most world’s fair architecture. Instead, the Belgian public fell hard.
Too strange to tear down, too iconic to ignore.
Today it’s both a museum and a time capsule. An artifact of mid-century optimism, when “the future” meant space travel, atomic power, and brushed metal gleam.
Walk through it and you can almost hear the hum of the jet age.
Designed by André Waterkeyn and architects André and Jean Polak, we see some excellent vintage photos of the construction below.
The Atomium today, in its polished glory.
Images via DesignYouTrust:
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