Atomium ad campaign cheekily takes credit for highest toilet in Brussels

Where is the highest toilet in Brussels? It’s a question you’ve probably never asked yourself, but the answer, according to the Atomium, is in the uppermost sphere of that celebrated monument. In the toilets of Brussels Airport you can find posters boasting: “The city’s highest toilets [95m] are in the symbol of Brussels”.

“It’s all intended in a jokey way,” a spokesperson for the Atomium told Het Nieuwsblad. Amusing for sure, but not true. The Atomium toilets are a long way from being the highest in the city. That honour goes to the Tour du Midi (pictured) next to the South Station.

That’s not only the tallest building in Brussels, it’s the tallest in the country, and home to the highest toilet. It’s on the top floor, 140 metres above the ground.

The Tour du Midi was built in the early 1960s to house the government’s pension administration and was the tallest building in the EU, until the French built the Tour Montparnasse in 1972. In 1995, the Tour du Midi’s glass panel cladding was replaced. It was built around a central core containing stairs, lifts and, of course, sanitation.

The so-called pensions tower is not the only competitor for the Atomium’s title. Rogier tower and the nearby Finance tower are both taller, as is the newly built Up-Site tower on the banks of the canal. That structure, 142m high, dethroned the Brusilia apartment building in Schaerbeek as the tallest residential building in the city.

Photo: Alan Hope