bruxelle city

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The atomium - a symbol of mankind 's greatest adventure!

The 1958 Universal Exhibiton of Brussels was the first coming together of nations in the new prosperity of peace after the nightmare of the second World War. The motivating slogans behind Expo 58 were about building a new world for modern man, and creating a feeling of mutual respect and dignity through friendly contact with all people.

The exhibition aimed to embody the new optimism and an unconditional faith in progress. Amongst the many incredible structures erected for the Exhibition, th Atomium was, without a doubt, the most successful.

Try to imagine the young engineer, André Waterkeyn, presenting his maquette in 1955 to Baron Moens de Fernig, Commissioner General for Expo 58.

In the orm of a steel and aluminium structure, it represented a molecule of an iron christal, magnified 165 million times.

The poject was accepted providing it was financed rivately and demolished once the exhibition eded.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult for us to understand how they could envisage building something as imposing as the Atomium to last only a few months.

Fortunately the structure was so popular that its demolition was postponed.

And so, year after year, it has continued standing and has become a familiar landmark in the landscape of our city, an important part of Brussels' architectural heritage.

During the 1990s it became obviuous that the Atomium was urgently in need of renovat ion which raised several questions: qould a monument, built to be transient, be preserved, should it be closed to the public and only be exterior renovated or should it be completely renovated inside and out, which would inevitably necessitate a considerable financial investment.

Just the thought that the Atomium could dissapear or possibly be closed to the public produced some lively debates.

As a result it was decided to go for the total renovation option thanks to a financial commitment from te Federal State in the context of Belris.

In 2006, when the Atomium shines forth again and the public can explore it in safety and comfort, when top quality and activities are available to one and all, we can once again claim that the Atomium in indeed a symbol of mankind's great adventure

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The Atomium

The Atomium 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 crystallised molecule of iron by the scale of its atoms, magnified 150 thousand million times.
Throughout the ages, man has sought to give architectural expression to his desire for height; towers, pyramids, belfries, cathedrals,…
The Atomium, in particular, embodies the audacity of an epoch that seeks to confront the destiny of man with scientific discovery.
The nine large spheres joined by tubes which comprise the Atomium, are arranged in the configuration of a central cubic system. These spheres, with a diameter of 18 metres, were fitted out by the architects André and Jean Polak.
Made entirely of steel clad with aluminium, the structure, at a hight of 102 metres and standing on three enormous bipods, dominates the Heysel plateau.
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.

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Brussels City

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] in French and often (incorrectly) [bʁyksɛl]Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [brʏsəl]; German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium, the French Community of Belgium, Flanders and the main seat of the European Union's institutions. by non-Belgian speakers of French;

Brussels is, first of all, a city located in the centre of Belgium and is its capital, but it sometimes also refers to the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region. This municipality inside Brussels is correctly named The City of Brussels (French: Bruxelles-Ville or Ville de Bruxelles, Dutch: Stad Brussel), which is one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels-Capital Region (see also: Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region). The municipality has a population of about 140,000 while the Brussels-Capital Region has 1,018,804 inhabitants. (01-01-2006). The Metropolitan area has about 2,090,000 inhabitants 50°50′37″N, 4°21′27″E. [1]

The Brussels-Capital Region is a region of Belgium in its own right (Région à part entière), alongside Wallonia and the Flemish Region. Geographically and linguistically, it is a (bilingual) enclave in the (unilingual) Flemish Region. Regions are one component of Belgium's complex institutions, the three communities being "the" other component: the Brussels inhabitants must deal with either the French (speaking) community or the Flemish Community for matters such as culture and education.

Brussels is also the capital of both the French Community of Belgium (Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles in French) and of Flanders (Vlaanderen); all Flemish capital institutions are established here: Flemish Parliament, Flemish government and its administration.

Two of the main institutions of the European Union - the European Commission and the Council of the European Union - have their headquarters in Brussels: the Commission in the Berlaymont building and the Council in the Justus Lipsius building facing it. The third institution, the European Parliament, also has a parliamentary chamber in Brussels in which its committee meet and some of its plenary sessions are held (the other plenary sessions are held in Strasbourg, and its administrative headquarters are in Luxembourg).

Brussels is also the political seat of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Western European Union (WEU) and EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

Due to this, some countries have three ambassadors present in Brussels: the normal bi-lateral ambassador, the EU-ambassador, and finally the NATO-ambassador.

The "language border" divides Belgium into a northern, Dutch-speaking region, and a southern, French-speaking region. Although the real language border and the official one are largely identical, there are bilingual pockets on both sides with, in certain cases, no specific linguistic rights for the population speaking the other language. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual, while the majority of its residents speak French (see the linguistic history of Brussels in this article: linguistic situation section).

The highest building in Brussels is the South Tower (150 m); the most famous probably the Atomium, which is a remnant from the Expo '58.

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