Mini-Europe

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Mini-Europe is a part of Heysel in Brussels, Belgium that contains replicas of famous buildings from countries in the European Union, presented at a scale of 1 to 25. The buildings on display are famed for their exquisite detail, which took over €75,000 per model to reproduce.

Contents 1 Making the models 2 List of models 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Making the models

In 1987, several art historians selected over 100 European buildings of cultural importance; it was from this list that many of the models at Mini-Europe come. On-site work to take detailed photographs of the buildings cost over €200,000, and sometimes it took multiple trips to garner enough details to make and appropriate 1:25 scale model.

To build the models, 55 workshops from 9 member states collaborated to construct pre-models out of a variety of materials. These pre-models were then used to create moulds, which led to the final model, cast from epoxy or polyester. Finally, the models were painted. All told, this process was extremely labour-intensive, requiring, for example, over 24,000 hours for the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

[edit] List of models

Austria Melk Abbey Belgium Grand Place / City Hall, Brussels The Belfry, Bruges Town Hall, Leuven Castle of Vêves, Celles Citadel and Notre-Dame Church, Dinant Berlaymont building, Brussels Graslei street and the Rabot, Ghent Alden Biesen Castle, Rijkhoven Main square of Antwerp (City Hall, Brabo statue, guild houses) Curtius House, Liège Cyprus Ancient Greek theatre, Kourion Czech Republic Prague Orloj Denmark Viking ring fort Nyhavn waterfront, Copenhagen Børsen (old stock exchange), Copenhagen Estonia Great Coastal Gate and Fat Margaret's Tower, Tallinn Finland St. Olaf's Castle, Savonlinna France Eiffel Tower, Paris Arc de Triomphe, Paris Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, Paris Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp Clos Vougeot, near Dijon Château de Chenonceau, Loire Valley Royal Saltworks, Arc-et-Senans Germany Speyer Cathedral Burg Eltz Holstentor, Burgtor and Salzspeicher, Lübeck Brandenburg Gate and Berlin Wall, Berlin Bonngasse (street) with Beethoven's birth house, Bonn Wies Pilgrimage Church Porta Nigra, Trier Osthofentor, Soest Greece Acropolis, Athens Traditional village, Santorini Ireland Glendalough monastery, County Wicklow Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary Gallarus Oratory, County Kerry Italy Campo dei Miracoli (Leaning Tower, Duomo, Baptistry), Pisa Doge's Palace and St Mark's Campanile, Venice Palazzo Pubblico, Siena Villa Capra (La Rotonda), Vicenza Trulli of Alberobello Mount Vesuvius

Latvia Freedom Monument, Riga Lithuania Vilnius University campus, Vilnius Luxembourg Adolphe Bridge, Luxembourg City Malta Mnajdra temple Netherlands Beurs van Berlage, Mint Tower and Montelbaan Tower, Amsterdam Town Hall, Maastricht Hoensbroek Castle, Hoensbroek Church and houses, Ootmarsum Abbey and Kloveniersdoelen, Middelburg Museum village of Orvelte Weigh House and Tax Tower, Alkmaar Windmills, Kinderdijk Hoofdtoren and Oude Doelenkade street, Hoorn Town Hall, Veere Poland Artus Court, Gdańsk Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers, Gdańsk Portugal Belém Tower, Lisbon Castle of Guimarães Ribeira, Porto Traditional village of the Algarve Oceanarium, Lisbon Slovakia The Blue Church in Bratislava Spain Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela El Escorial Plaza de Toros, Seville Christopher Columbus monument, Barcelona Landscape with windmills, La Mancha Sweden City Hall, Stockholm United Kingdom Houses of Parliament / Big Ben, London Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birth house, Anne Hathaway's cottage, etc.) Longleat House, Wiltshire Royal Crescent and Circus, Bath Dover Castle Arlington Row, Bibury Other Ariane 5 Pride of Dover ferry An airport A Ferris wheel A North Sea oil platform TGV train Calypso (Jacques Cousteau's ship)

[edit] See also

• Brussels

[edit] External links

• Mini-Europe official website

Coordinates: 50.894° N 4.339° E