Mini-Europe

Mini-Europe viewed from the Atomium
Location	Avenue du Football / Voetballaan 1, B-1020 Laeken, City of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
Coordinates	50°53′38″N 4°20′20″E / 50.894°N 4.339°E / 50.894; 4.339
Status	Operating
Opened	1989 (1989)
Operating season	March–October
Website	Official website

Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in the Bruparck entertainment park, at the foot of the Atomium, in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union and other countries within the continent of Europe on display, at a scale of 1:25. Roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented.^[1] Mini-Europe receives 350,000 visitors per year^[2] and has a turnover of €4 million.

Mini-Europe is the brainchild of Johannes A. Lorijn, who founded similar miniature parks in Austria and Spain. The park contains live action models such as trains, mills, an erupting Mount Vesuvius, and cable cars. 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 EU in the form of multimedia games.

The park is built on an area of 24,000 m² (300,000 sq ft). The initial investment was of €10 million in 1989, on its inauguration by then-Prince Philip of Belgium.

Exhibits

Building the monuments

Part of the site, viewed from the Atomium

The monuments exposed are 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 nowadays polyester is used.^[3] Three of the monuments were made out of natural stone (e.g. the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in marble). A computer-assisted milling procedure was used for two of the models. After painting, the monuments are installed on site, together with decorations and lighting.

Many of the monuments were financed by European countries or regions. The Brussels Grand-Place/Grote Markt model cost €375,000 to make.^[4] The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela required more than 24,000 hours of work.

List of models

Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels)

Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower (London)

Arc de Triomphe and Sacré Cœur (Paris)

Eiffel Tower (Paris)

Brandenburg Gate (Berlin)

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral (Santiago de Compostela)

Maestranza (Seville)

Mogoșoaia Palace (Mogoșoaia)

See also

• Madurodam — Model village in Netherlands containing miniature famous Dutch landmarks
• Catalunya en Miniatura — miniature park located 17 km away from Barcelona, with an exhibition area of 35.000 m2 including all major buildings of Catalonia and of Antoni Gaudí
• Italia in miniatura — miniature park near Rimini
• Bekonscot — typical English village in miniature
• Huis ten Bosch — Japanese theme park modelled on the cities and landscape of the Low Countries
• Minimundus miniature park in Klagenfurt, Austria.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mini-Europe.

• Mini-Europe official website
• Mini-Europe in Brussels
• Koshy, Yohann (27 April 2016). "These Photos of a Crumbling Pro-EU Theme Park Show a Europe in Existential Crisis". Vice. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016.

References