This bizarre little statue of a peeing boy is the most popular tourist attraction in Brussels, just off the Grand'Place. Famously touted as a glorious example of Belgian humour and capacity for self-mockery, it is a true cultural icon.
The bronze statuette stands nonchalant before the little pool on the Rue de l'Etuve into which he pees. Created in the 17th century by one J Duquesney, his air belies his dramatic life: he has been the victim of several acts of vandalism and been kidnapped by both the British (1745) and the French (1747). In 1817 he got into the clumsy hands of a French convict, who smashed him to pieces: from the fragments was built the figurine you see today.
He is naturally naked, although through the centuries the little boy has been dressed up in so many outfits that they now make up their own display in the Museum of the City of Brussels. His most recent outfits tend to be dictated by the whims of advertisers and sponsorship rather than by kings or noblemen, but this just adds a further layer of comic irony to the phenomenon of the Manneken-Pis.
He is naturally naked, although through the centuries the little boy has been dressed up in so many outfits that they now make up their own display in the Museum of the City of Brussels. His most recent outfits tend to be dictated by the whims of advertisers and sponsorship rather than by kings or noblemen, but this just adds a further layer of comic irony to the phenomenon of the Manneken-Pis.
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