Mannekin Pis

A short walk from the Grand Place, Brussels’s statue of a small boy peeing is a ‘must-see’. Locals love him because he perfectly encapsulates the city’s irreverent joie de vivre attitude. The identity of the little boy has become the stuff of legends: one story tells the tale of a hero boy who put out a firebomb by peeing on it; another relates the discovery of a lost nobleman’s son eventually found peeing at this spot. It’s been stolen on a number of occasions; the last time was in 1817 when an ex-convict stole the statue for its bronze. The thief was apprehended, but not before poor Manneken had been smashed into smithereens. The culprit didn’t get away lightly: he was publicly branded on the Grand’ Place and given a life sentence in a forced labour camp. A cast for the new Manneken Pis (the one that stands today) was forged from the broken pieces.