Souvenir Sunday: Brussels World's Fair, 1958

Expo '58 was the first major World's Fair after World War II (the previous fair was the glorious 1939 New York World's Fair). The Brussels World's Fair's impressive theme building was the Atomium, a 334 ft high building based on the atomic structure of an iron crystal. It still stands today!

I found a small group of souvenir slides from this fair, and thought that they were intriguing enough to share with you. Today I am focusing on the images of the USSR pavilion. This was right in the middle of the cold war and the space race.

Unlike Disneyland's efforts to make things feel welcoming and friendly, this building is clearly meant to be big, serious, and imposing.


Oh man, I love this picure! There's one of the classic statues of Lenin, looking suitably heroic. Look at the size of it compared to the tiny peasants at the base! Nearby are full-scale models of what appears to be Sputnik-1 and Sputnik-2, both of which launched about one year before the Fair opened. The Soviet Union was kicking America's butt at that point in the space race, and they couldn't be more proud. Can't say I blame them.


Here's more shiny shiny rocket stuff, shining shinily. The cutaway of that nose-cone (or whatever it is) interests me... are those pieces of 2 X 4 inside? The other piece, laying on its side, looks like it is part of the world's largest Waring blender. These photos are so quaint, especially since going to the moon is a mundane, daily occurance now. Excuse me while I put on my silver lamé jumpsuit and take a ride in my flying car!