The icon of the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958, and Belgium’s answer to the Eiffel Tower, the Atomium looms over the city from the Heysel Plateau, in the northerly district of Laeken. A set of silver balls representing an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times, its futuristic cool embodies the fair’s faith in scientific progress, mirrored by interiors that look like an intergalactic spaceship. You can also scope the panoramic viewing station and what’s more – there’s a slick brasserie upstairs.
