The Atomium was constructed for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair and is a steel replica of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. The Atomium has nine steel spheres connected by steel rods; some of the spheres are accessible to visitors by escalator. The highest sphere offers a great view of the region, and another sphere has a dormitory for visiting schoolchildren that includes sphere-shaped beds. One of the original ideas for the World’s Fair monument was to build an upside-down Eiffel Tower, but designer Andre Waterkeyn felt that an atom was more relevant to the times. As a result, some people call the Atomium the Eiffel Tower of Belgium.
