The Atomium is more than just an oversized abstract sculpture. For a city that sees itself as Paris 2.0, this is Brussels' Eiffel Tower. Something large, geometric, and symbolic. And like the Eiffel Tower this, too, is a relic from a past World's Fair. The Atomium is an iron molecule magnified 165,000,000,000 times and turned into a huge building. Inside there are restaurants, shops, museums and an observation deck. Each of its nine spheres are sixty feet across. The connecting tubes are 10-feet wide, and the overall height of the atom is 335 feet. Getting from one pod to another is a simple process of playing connect the dots by climbing or descending staircases through the tubes.

Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn for the International Exhibition of Brussels, that took place here in 1958, the Atomium is a structure that is half way between sculpture and architecture, symbolising a crystal molecule of metal by the scale of its atoms, magnified 165 billion times.

Work was started in March 1956, after soundings had been made of the ground on which the Atomium as to be erected. These tests showed the necessity of driving enlarged base concrete piles moulded into the ground to a depth of 57 ft. Hammering started in April and lasted till June. One hundred and twenty three piles were driven, in four distinct groups. A group of 59 piles in four concentric circles for the central foundation supporting the central mast, which is really the backbone of the whole Atomium ; this 10.8 ft diameter column, in fact, takes considerable stresses. Three other groups of 24 piles each carry the foundations of the three bipods ; these piles were driven inclined 17°, which is the angle of the bipods to the vertical. After the pile driving operation, the thick reinforced concrete sleepers were made ; they join together the heads of the piles and receive the attachment points of the metallic structure. For the central foundation, the sleeper was a circular slab 39 ft in diameter and 6.5 ft thick, with a 10 ft diameter hole in the center to insure passage of the lift and its end-of-travel machinery. The weight of concrete of the central foundation is roughly 500 tons.
Situated on the northern outskirts of Brussels, between the royal estates of Laeken and Stuyvenbergh, and the chaussée romaine, the former Osseghem plateau consisted of meadows and fields during the nineteenth century. From 1889 onwards, King Léopold II, whose wish it was to enhance the surroundings of the royal palace by the urbanisation of this plateau, undertook a vast program of land purchases, to the point that within twenty years, he had acquired a vast domain of 200 hectares, which he left to the Belgian state on his death in 1909.

While the Atomium remains the main attraction of what is known as the Heysel plateau, a number of other substantial activities have been developed there since 1936: exhibition halls, a congress centre, a leisure and tourist centre, a cinema complex, a planetarium, a stadium, sports grounds, green spaces and restaurants are all there for the greater enjoyment of visitors.

The Universal Exhibition, inaugurated on 27th April 1935, was certainly the starting point for this development. 20 million people visited the 150 hectares of gardens, ponds, buildings and pavilions sponsored by more than twenty different countries. At night, the area was lit up like an illuminated fairyland with the added enchantment of numerous firework displays.

Twenty years later, the International Exhibition of 1958 confirmed the hosting capacity of this site, enabling almost forty million visitors to view the technical and scientific progress of the modern world in an atmosphere of optimism and enjoyment. The general layout of the exhibition centred on the Atomium, an imposing structure, and comprised six separate sectors spread out over 200 hectares.
Work was started in March 1956. Made entirely of steel clad with aluminium, the structure dominates the Heysel plateau. The particular position chosen for the cube, i.e., resting on one sphere with a vertical diagonal, was essentially dictated by esthetical reasons. Such a position made it of course necessary to insure the stability of the structure by three bipods. The nine large spheres joined by tubes which comprise the Atomium, are arranged in the configuration of a central cubic system. These spheres were fitted out by the architects André and Jean Polak.

The Atomium was not intended to survive the Exhibition of 1958. Its popularity and success, however, ensured its place as a major landmark on the Brussels skyline.
Today, the condition of the Atomium requires renovation work. This will start in 2003, thanks to aid from the federal state of Belgium, in collaboration with the Region of Brussels Capital and the City of Brussels.