The Atomium, the giant metal atom, is by far the most striking and appalling feature of the place. One of the many architectural abominations marking the spots on the planet where World Fairs have been held, it is well over three hundred feet high, and badly in need of polishing. From afar (and you can see it on the skyline from anywhere in the city), it looks merely incongruous. Up close it is the only real structure I've ever seen that looks less like an solid object than like a bad matte painting from a dated science-fiction movie.