Destinations / The best places to visit in Brussels, Belgium / Manneken Pis

 

  Nobody knows exactly when and why this all too impressive statue became so famous. There are thousands of similar fountains and statues scattered throughout Europe, yet thousands of tourists are rushing to make a picture of it and not others. 

 

  Manneken Pis is a small statue with a huge wardrobe. The statue is dressed in little suits several times a year. There are hundreds of different costumes. A foundation called "Friends of Manneken Pis" takes care of these suits. Foundation receives hundreds of proposals from fans every year but only a few are also manufactured and used. Dates and times when certain costumes are made public using the Internet and then some posters around the fountain. 

 

  There are many legends associated with the Manneken Pis. Some say the statue is inspired by a battle of the 12th century the troops of Duke Godfrey III of Leuven and lords of Grimbergen. Godfrey III was only two years when he inherited the dukedom. His army commander to put the little lord in a basket and raised on a tree branch to cheer the troops. According to legend Godfrey child pee on the lords of Grimbergen who have lost the battle. 

 

  Another legend says the statue is another famous boy in another war. Sometime during the 14th century, Brussels was under siege. Enemy soldiers tried to blow up the city walls to placing a bomb on them. But they were spying on the walls of a boy after the soldiers left, thus saving the city wick urine. 

 

  Another legend says that the Manneken Pis is the son of a rich merchant who lost a day through the city. Father desperate search teams quickly organized the boy who ransacked the city and they found the child happy, making someone pee in the garden. His father made a gift statue garden owner. 

 

  The present bronze is the work of Jerome Duquesnoy but there was a similar stone sculpture and much older that date at least since 1388. It was stolen several times and finally was completely lost track. 

 

  Manneken Pis has served as a model for hundreds of aftershocks used as garden decorations everywhere, thus the legend of Manneken Pis. There is another Manneken Pis in a nearby town, Geraardsbergen. This whole discussion arose about who owns the oldest statue and caused great animosity between the two Guild. A study of city records cleared this dispute and said the statue of Geraardsbergen as the oldest - is in the archives because he was ordered to replace the statue of a lion, which had a similar argument had been stolen by the inhabitants of Ghent.

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