On the Edge of the Age of Atomium

by

Lauren Roberts

In 1958, the atom seemed on the verge of bursting through to superstardom. And the world was ready for it. When the World’s Fair opened that year in Brussels, it gave the atom the starring role in the form of the Atomium.

Designed expressly for the ’58 Expo by Belgian engineer André Waterkeyn, the Atomium combines sculpture, architecture, and science in a structure standing 334 feet high. It is a gigantic representation of the atomic lattice of an iron crystal that had been magnified 165 billion times, and composed of nine large spheres joined by tubes made of steel and clad in aluminum. The structure was based on a pavilion via three bipods, each weighing over 100 tons. Each sphere has a diameter of fifty-nine feet with distances between spheres being ninety-five feet. The diameter of the tubes connecting the spheres is nearly ten feet, while the length is seventy-five feet. The tubes’ escalators were designed to move a lot of people; their speed could take visitors to the top sphere in just twenty-three seconds. Though the initial idea was to open all nine spheres to the public, it was ultimately decided to open only six: the base sphere, the three lower spheres (the ones which are supported by the bipods), the central sphere and the top sphere. The size and design was specifically intended to allow the “atom spheres” to house exhibits related to this particular science. Visitors would move from one sphere to the other via escalators in the tubes that represented the binding forces.

Work on the Atomium started in March 1956 with the driving of concrete piles fifty-seven feet beneath the surface of the earth. One hundred and twenty-three piles were used, fifty-nine of them in four concentric circles for the central foundation, the backbone of the sculpture. The next step was reinforced concrete sleepers that joined the heads of the various piles and were where the attachment points of the metallic structures would be. Once the foundation was laid, the central tube, a structure nearly eleven feet in diameter and 348 feet long, was placed; it rose nearly 200 feet high.

Attaching the spheres was trickier. Because each one had two main floors and an extra servicing floor, and because the structure itself was made of large and weighty elements, the bipods upon which they rested were extraordinarily heavy. Stability is provided by the three bipods, articulated on their foundations, and the six tubes that connect them to the base sphere and to the central column which is itself anchored into the central foundation make an absolutely stable base. Erecting the entire structure required teams of riggers and specialized equipment. The first section went in early in 1957. By May the base sphere was finished, by mid-June the first bi-pod was completed, and the central sphere was put up in October. During the last three months of the year, the framework for the three lower spheres was installed, and in January, 1958, the framework for the top sphere was mounted. In the first quarter of that year, the three middle spheres and twelve connecting tubes were established.  

The exterior covering was composed of aluminum panels mounted on a welded aluminum frame. It was based on triangles, forty-eight major ones with each of those have fifteen smaller spherical triangles. The spectacular night lighting was produced through circular light points placed at regular intervals about five feet apart. The impression created was of pulsating light at different points of the sphere, and was supposed to represent the rotation of the electrons around each atom of the iron crystal. 

Windows were essential but maximum window space had to take into account the exterior skinning that provided the spherical shape. So in places where windows were installed, the aluminum panels were replaced by frames of Plexiglas sheets having the same spherical radius. This was done only on the top sphere where the restaurant was and the two lower spheres where the circuit that visitors went through ended. Part of the reason for limiting the window views was to keep visitors circulating through the technical exhibits rather than tying up the lines by having them linger at windows.

Maximizing the flow of visitors moving was essential. For those who wanted to dine in the top sphere or linger at windows just below it, a fast lift that could accommodate twenty-two people on a single trip of seconds was available, meaning that about 400 persons an hour could be taken up to the top sphere. The restaurant accommodated 140 comfortably, while the viewpoint could contain 250 people.

While it was the star of the fair, it was by no means the only reason to attend the Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles or Brussels World’s Fair (informally known as Expo 58), which was held in Heysel Park on the outskirts of Brussels. It had taken nearly 15,000 workers a total of three years to build the site, but what a sight it was. The fair, running from April 17 through October 19, was the first after the 1939 New York fair, and the first Belgian fair since 1935. It comprised nearly 500 acres where fifty-two countries exhibited at 150 pavilions. The theme was “A World View – A New Humanism.” 

The Heysel plateau upon which it sat was dissected by hills and valleys, and had a concrete viaduct one kilometer long to link the surrounding parkland with the central exhibition area thus affording visitors a bird’s eye view over the entire fair. A cable railway with 165 cable cars was installed, together with several trains covering the entire site.

The opening day ceremony was highlighted by Belgian King Baudouin and the prime minister, Achille van Acker, who inaugurated the Expo with a speech urging nations to embrace peace and social and scientific progress. At the conclusion, the king pressed a button that sent water gushing from the fountains in the Place del Belgique while a squadron of fighter planes painted a gigantic “B” in the sky and thousands of red, green, and white balloons (Belgium’s colors) were released from a nearby stadium.

The fair was open every day until four in the morning. Entry was free. Seven sections held the numerous attractions. Visitors could dine at any of several restaurants, enjoy various dance halls, visit a Swiss chalet, tour an exhibition by the painter Lorjou, spend time in shops and, of course, tour the many pavilions. Among those pavilions were ones by the United States, the USSR, France, Austria, Switzerland, Iran and Japan.

The main, section, the Belgian one, had about one-third of all the exhibits and pavilions, proudly displaying their many achievements and the ways in which they attained them. Closely aligned, but in a separate section, was the Belgian Congo, where pavilions by the government, agricultural, transportation, and mining industries displayed their wares and processes. There was also a full-scale model of an African village that was “inhabited” by members of the Congolese elite who served as the country’s delegation to the fair. (An interesting fact is that only six months after the fair closed, the infamous riots at Leopoldville occurred, and not long after that, in June 1960, the Belgian Congo was granted independence.) Near the village there were tropical gardens and a dome-shaped pavilion which enclosed the Pavilion of Fauna.

The Foreign Section was where most individual countries showed off their businesses and achievements. Among those were the then-largest circular building ever constructed (the U.S. pavilion), an aircraft hanger look alike (from France), and a multimedia tent (the Philips Pavilion).

The International Section differed in its focus—international cooperation. All the pavilions here were arranged around the “World Co-operation Square.” In addition to nations, the UN, UNESCO and UPU shared display space. Collaborations were the strong point, and it was here that the Atomium was situated. 

The Folklore Section, also called “Cheerful Belgium” attracted a lot of attention because it was organized by thirty-two breweries. It is this particular section that drew the attention of one student who has since written amusingly about his experience which began with beer and turned into a sort of uneasy communion with a nurse-nun named Sister Perpetua. 

The first week of July ‘58 I was on top of the world: in spite of a tumultuous and energetic college life, full of romance, caper cutting and left wing revolutionary agitation, I had completed my second year cum laude and was now a candidate in history. Fully in the tradition of the Student of Heidelberg, our faculty club had chartered a coach to go to the World Fair, which had, alas, been opened in full swotvac. Our destination, however, was not the huge pavilions, the Atomium or any of the other wow attractions. It was not the dreams of the future we were after, but the fake ‘Old Belgium’ village, where we “rolled” from one pub to the other, drinking large pints of beer to the tones of ‘Io Vivat’ or ‘Gaudeamus igitur, juvenes dum sumus.’

Maybe I was having a hangover, or maybe I was just tired after all these exams, maybe I was having a sore throat of singing too much – but the next day I had a nasty pain in my throat which kept getting worse the following days. Upon closer inspection and a blood test I was proved to suffer from diphtheria – commonly called ‘croup’ – a dangerous, old fashioned and highly contagious disease. Without further notice I was put into an ambulance and ended up in an isolated pavilion of the old Bijloke hospital, where I was placed under a five weeks custody of sister Perpetua. For half a century, it was said, she had been reputed for her flawless administering of giant serum injections in the abdomen. Apprentice medicine students came to observe how she did it, while I had to endure the strict regime of four weeks confinement to bed. There were five other diphtheria patients, with whom I could only communicate like prisoners, by shouting at them without seeing them in the flesh and under sister Perpetua’s perpetual custody, day and night, five weeks long.

But breweries were not the only attraction in this section. It was designed to approximate other sections of the world in a kind of multi-faceted town. Beautiful homes, eateries, dance halls and a cinema also enticed.

The Science & Fine Arts Section, the smallest of all, contained displays of science and art projects. The science area focused on the last twenty-five years of research on the atom, cells, and space exploration. The arts section  put on view works by international artists in various mediums, including paint, sculpture, plastic (a new concept), and glass blowing.

Finally, the attractions which were not really a separate section but spread throughout included cable-lifts traversing the site, helicopter flights, and train cars that drove around the streets of the fair, stopping at the most popular spots.

Given the attraction and lasting popularity of the Atomium, it might be easy to mistake that as the symbol of the fair. It has certainly lasted the longest. Though it was due to be taken down at the end of the fair. But it was kept, and has since become one of Belgium’s visitor highlights. It had its 50th anniversary in 2008, and for that it got a facelift. Renovation began in March 2004; it was closed to the public in October, and remained closed until February 18, 2006. The faded aluminum sheets on the spheres were replaced with shiny stainless steel, the exhibition spaces and restaurant were revamped, and a dormitory with suspended plastic sphere beds for visiting schoolchildren (Kids Sphere Hotel) was created. The old aluminum was sold to the public as souvenirs.

During the six months of the fair, more than 42 million visitors took advantage of the sights and sounds. (There were also eight births, and twenty-seven suicide attempts.) But as long as the Atomium remains open—as it does—the fair will go on. It can be toured with or without a guide. Most of it is accessible by lift, though some areas require the ability to use steep escalators and stairs. The entire Atomium or some of the spheres can also be rented for private events. And in a surprising discovery I found that the Atomium has an apparently new opportunity for those who not around during its original appearance, . (I’d definitely do it.)

However, it is not the Atomium that is the symbol but the Expostar, the irregular-shaped five-pointed stars that illuminated many of the pavilions and attractions at night. Most notably the elevated walkway that traversed the Foreign section was lit entirely by these neon stars on metal lattices above its open center.

The Internet has taken the place of World Fairs for most, but some things, like the Atomium, still remain to remind us that not all things can be experienced online. Or at least experienced well.

Bookmark specifications: Atomium
Dimensions: 4" x 3/4"
Material: Metal
Manufacturer: Expo ’58 official vendor (unknown)
Date: 1958
Acquired: eBay


Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately the same number of books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.