Mini Europe

Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in Bruparck at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union on show, at a scale of 1:25. Roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented. The models cost as much as €350,000 to make (the Brussels Grand-Place).

The park contains live action models (train, mills, eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Airbus, cable cars, etc.). A guide gives the details on all the monuments. At the end of the visit, the “Spirit of Europe” exhibition gives an interactive overview of the European Union in the form of multimedia games.

The park is built on an area of 24,000 m². The initial investment was of €10 million in 1989, on its inauguration by Prince Philip of Belgium.

Source: http://atomium.be

The monuments were chosen for the quality of their architecture or their European symbolism. Most of the monuments were made using moulds. The final copy used to be cast from epoxy resin, but now polyester is used. Three of the monuments were made out of stone (e.g. the tower of Pisa, in marble). A computer-assisted milling procedure was used for two of the models.

Many of the monuments were financed by European countries or regions.

More than 50 ateliers of 9 member states of the Europe Union were contacted to realize the scale models. These were created with a new technique which guaranteed a superb quality. The different parts or units were cut from different materials ( for example wood, cartoon etc.) and merged on a Master plate. It was a process with high precision and required much time to realize such superb quality. Twenty four thousand hours were necessary to realize of the scale model of the Santiago de Compostela.

The animations are designed especially for Mini-Europe. These work approximately 2.900 hours in one year and in all weather circumstances (rain, wind, snow etc.). Every animation is considered as an industrial prototype.

Nowadays, Mini-Europe has more than 350 scale models of monuments from more than 80 European cities. Regularly, there are new scale models added. Mini-Europe in the Bruparck of Brussels can be considered as a top attraction in Brussels and attracts approximately 300.000 visitors each year from all continents of the world.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Europe

http://belgium.knoji.com

Posted in: Belgium