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Brussels is the most densely populated region in Belgium, and although it has the highest GDP per capita, [29] it has the lowest available income per household. [30] The Brussels Region covers 162 km 2 (63 sq mi) and has a population of over 1.2 million. [31]
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- Statues Inspired by Manneken Pis
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The statue's original name was Menneke Pis or Menneke Pist. In fact, in the Brabantian dialect of Brussels (known as Brusselian, and also sometimes referred to as Marols or Marollien), een manneke means a small man, whereas een menneke means a little boy (it is the diminutive of men, meaning boy), though in modern Flemish (the local variant of Dutc...
Origins of Manneken Pis
The earliest mention of the existence of Manneken Pis can be found in an administrative document from 1451–52 about the water lines supplying the fountains of Brussels.[b] From the beginning, the fountain played an essential role in the distribution of drinking water. It stood on a column and poured water into a double rectangular basin of stone. The only representations of this first statue can be found, very schematically, on a map by the cartographers Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, in wh...
17th–19th centuries
During its history, Manneken Pis faced many hazards. It survived undamaged the bombardment of Brussels of 1695 by the French army, but the pipes having been affected, it could not deliver its water for some time. A pamphlet published the same year recounts this episode. This text is the oldest attesting that Manneken Pis had become "an object of glory appreciated by all and renowned throughout the world". It is also the first time that it served as a symbol for the people of Brussels. It is a...
20th century–present
Manneken Pis experienced similar misadventures in the 20th century. Two attempted thefts occurred in 1955 and 1957. Some accounts say that it has been stolen up to seven times; in January 1963 by students of the Antwerp student's association "De Wikings" of the Sint-Ignatius Handelshogeschool (Higher Business Education), now part of the Antwerp University, who "hijacked" the statue for five days before handing it over to the Antwerp authorities. The local and international press covered the s...
There are several legends behind Manneken Pis, but the most famous is one involving Duke Godfrey III of Leuven. In 1142, the troops of this two-year-old lord were battling against the troops of the Berthouts, the lords of Grimbergen, in Ransbeek (now Neder-Over-Heembeek, a northern part of the City of Brussels). To give themselves courage, the sold...
Costumes and wardrobe
Manneken Pis is dressed in costumes, several times each week, according to a published schedule, which is posted on the railings around the fountain. Since 1954, the costumes are managed by the non-profit association The Order of the Friends of Manneken Pis, who review hundreds of designs submitted each year, and select a small number to be produced and used. His wardrobe consists of around one thousand different costumes, many of which could previously be viewed in a permanent exhibition ins...
Folklore
The Order of the Friends of Manneken Pis was founded in 1954 and has more than 150 members. The objective of the Order is to stimulate the cultural, tourist, philanthropic and commercial development of Belgium in general, and more particularly to preserve the traditions linked to Manneken Pis. The Order is always present during the ceremonies surrounding the presentation of new costumes and during the statue's official greetings and anniversaries. On certain folkloric occasions (e.g. Saint-Ve...
In Belgium
Although Brussels' Manneken Pis is the best known, others exist all across the country. As early as the 17th century, the statue was the subject of decorative replicas. The Brussels City Museum exhibits a copy which was crafted by Jacques Van den Broeck in 1630, probably from a cast of Duquesnoy's statue. Another local copy, from 1636, in a private American collection, is attributed to the German founder Daniel Haneman. Similar statues can also be found in the Flemish cities of Koksijde, Hass...
Internationally
Since the 20th century, numerous copies or imitations of Manneken Pis have been created abroad. It is necessary to distinguish the official copies offered by the City of Brusselsfrom copies and imitations carried out privately by admirers of the little statue. Official copies were offered to: 1. Colmar, France (1921) 2. Osaka, Japan (1928) 3. Monaco(1951) 4. London, United Kingdom (1959) 5. Broxeele, France (1979) 6. Benalmadena, Spain (1991) 7. Nagoya, Japan (2015) A replica of Manneken Pis...
Jeanneke Pis
Manneken Pis is not the only peeing statue in Brussels. Since 1987, it has had a female equivalent, Jeanneke Pis ("Little Pissing Joan"), located on the eastern side of the Impasse de la Fidélité/Getrouwheidsgang ("Fidelity Alley"), a narrow cul-de-sac some 30 metres (100 ft) long leading northwards off the restaurant-packed Rue des Bouchers/Beenhouwersstraat, in central Brussels. The 50-centimetre (20 in) bronze sculpture represents a little girl with short pigtails, squatting and urinating...
Het Zinneke
Het Zinneke, sometimes called Zinneke Pis, another bronze sculpture in central Brussels, depicting a dog urinating against a marker, can also be seen as a reference to Manneken Pis. It is, however, not associated with a fountain. Zinneke is a nickname chosen to represent people from Brussels. The word means "mutt" or "bastard" in Brusselian dialect, and originally referred to the city's stray dogs that hung around the streets by the Lesser Senne (a tangent canal of the river Senne, which circ...
Being of prominent symbolic nature to Brussels and Belgium in general, Manneken Pis is widely used to represent both the city and country (as well as its people) in advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification. The statue's self-derisive nature also embodies the typical Belgian identity referred to as belgitude (French; lit.'Bel...
Media related to Manneken Pis (Brussels)at Wikimedia CommonsBrussels ( French: Bruxelles, Dutch: Brussel, German: Brüssel) is the capital city of Belgium and the European Union. In 2007, 145,917 people lived there. [1] But the area around it, known as the Brussels-Capital Region, had 1,031,215 people (which makes it the largest city area in Belgium). The people of Brussels speak mainly French and ...
5 days ago · Brussels, city, capital of Belgium. It is located in the valley of the Senne (Flemish: Zenne) River, a small tributary of the Schelde (French: Escaut). Greater Brussels is the country’s largest urban agglomeration. It consists of 19 communes, or municipalities, each with a large measure of administrative autonomy.
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region ...
Brussels - Capital, Belgium, Europe: Although the region has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the oldest known reference to Brussels dates to the 10th century, when it had the Frankish name Bruocsella, which means “settlement in the marshes.” The settlement at that time was a part of Lower Lotharingia, or Lower Lorraine, which later became known as the duchy of Brabant. Brussels ...
