Manneken Pis (Little Boy Peeing), Brussels (must see)

The small bronze statue of a little boy faithfully relieving himself atop a fountain has paradoxically emerged as an unexpected symbol of Brussels.

The site has been a water fountain since the 13th century, but the statue in its current baroque form was crafted in 1619 to replace an earlier version. Throughout history, the Little Boy Peeing has been stolen and thrown into the canal multiple times. What we see today is a copy made in 1965. The original statue is safeguarded in the Brussels City Museum to protect it from any further mishaps.

This enduring sculpture exemplifies the typical Brussels sense of humor and its capacity to poke fun at its own image. Apart from its humor, however, the statue is renowned for various legends associated with it.

One story claims that it commemorates a brave young boy who urinated on a burning fuse, preventing an explosive charge from detonating and potentially destroying the city's fortification walls. In another account, a wealthy merchant, after an extensive citywide search for his missing son, who was eventually found joyfully urinating in a garden, presented the statue, as a token of his appreciation, to the townspeople who aided in the search. Yet another version of the tale suggests that a young boy woke up to find a fire in the king's castle and promptly used his urine to douse the flames, thus preventing it from burning to the ground.

For about one-third of the year, the statue is dressed up in various costumes by an official dresser who has been appointed by the city since 1755. The current dresser, Nicolas Edelman, is the 13th since the 18th century. In 2014, he volunteered for the job which implies dressing up the statue for about 130 events annually. The role demands flexibility, requiring early mornings or late evenings, regardless of weather or day.

The costumes, donated by various entities, must meet quality standards and not serve political, commercial, or religious agendas. To date, the peeing boy has donned over 500 different outfits, ranging from the earliest-known attire, a Louis XV-provided ensemble portraying him as an elegant 17th-century gentleman, to a samurai robe celebrating the friendship between Belgium and Japan.

Little Boy Peeing has two companion statues: Little Girl Peeing (depicting a urinating girl, installed in 1987 in an alleyway near the Grand Square) and Little Dog Peeing (portraying a urinating dog, erected in 1998 in Dansaert, modeled after a real dog owned by the sculptor). Both of them are located approximately 550 meters away from the Little Boy Peeing but in different directions.