Manneken Pis in Brussels, Belgium

History of the Manneken Pis

Designed by Hieronymus Duquesnoy the Elder, the attraction of Manneken Pis was placed in between 1616-1619. As one digs into the history of the Manneken Pis, they find that the original intention behind the construction of this sculpture was to serve it as a means through which Bruxellois used to receive water. And, it played a vital role in distributing water since the 15th century. The meaning of the name of the structure is ‘a peeing little boy or little man’. The statue was placed at the fountain of Julian whose nickname was Little Julian or Julianske. Depicting the sense of humor of the designer, this structure has many other fables surrounding its origin.  

The Manneken Pis was built along with the fountain around 1451-1452. The fountain was designed basically for drinking purposes. The sculpture can even be found at one of the paintings by Denis Van Alsloot in 1615. The original statue was even on the verge of destruction due to wars and bomb attacks due to which it was shifted to the museum once the war got over, and is now in safe hands. However, the Manneken Pis has even been the attraction of thefts too, and there were many attempted thefts of this sculpture, but it was recovered every single time.

Dressings of the Manneken Pis

Receiving its first tunic by a governor in 1698, the Manneken Pis owns around 1000 outfits. The most interesting fact is that there is a schedule published on the fountain railings according to which the attraction is regularly dressed up by an employee of the city and managed by a non-profit organization. Total of 23 outfits are planned on fixed dates.