Manneken Pis

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Manneken Pis of Brussels in the nude

Manneken Pis (Brabantian for little man wee), is a Brussels landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. Similar statues can be found in the Belgian cities of Geraardsbergen, Hasselt, Gent and in the North French village of Broxeele, a town with the same etymology as Brussels. There is an ongoing dispute over which Manneken Pis is the oldest - the one in Brussels or the one in Geraardsbergen.

There are several legends behind this statue, but the most famous is the one about Duke Godfrey II 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 Ransbeke (now Neder-over-Heembeek). The troops put the infant lord in a basket and hung it in a tree, to encourage them. From there, he urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle.

Another legend goes like this: In the 14th century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held their ground for quite some time. The attackers had thought of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Juliaanske from Brussels happened to be spying on them as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city.

The Manneke Pis of Geraardsbergen

There was already a similar statue made of stone in the middle of the 15th century, perhaps as early as 1388. The statue was stolen several times. In 1619 it was replaced by a bronze statue, created by Franco-Flemish Baroque sculptor Jerome Duquesnoy, father of the more famous François.

On many occasions the statue is dressed in a costume. His wardrobe now consists of several hundred different costumes. According to an article posted in the History section of http://www.manneken-pis.com, the statue was at one time used to dispense liquor.

The costumes are changed according to a schedule managed by the non-profit association The Friends of Manneken-Pis, in ceremonies that are often accompanied by brass band music. When the boy's stream is turned on after dressing, the build-up of pressure after such a long abstinence can lead to bystanders being sprinkled, to general delight.

Since 1987, the Manneken has had a female equivalent, Jeanneke Pis.

Photos of the statue in close-up often give a false impression of its size; some tourists are disappointed to find it much smaller than expected.

The milieu of Manneken Pis, giving an idea of its size.

In many countries, replicas in brass or fiberglass are commonplace swimming- or garden-pool decorations. Manneken Pis adapted as a corkscrew is a common souvenir, considered most risqué [1].

In September 2002 a Belgian waffle-maker in Florida experienced first-hand the cultural gap between Europe and the United States when he set up a replica in front of his waffle stand in the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, Florida. The Belgian owner recalled the legend as 'the boy who saved Brussels from fire by extinguishing it with his urine' (confusing the legend with an incident in Gulliver's Travels perhaps). Florida's shocked shoppers made a formal complaint. Mall officials said that the waffle-shop owner Assayag did not follow procedures when he put up the statue and was in violation of his lease.

In contrast to this reaction, there is another replica of the statue in Rio de Janeiro, in front of the quarters of Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, a famous football club from Brazil. There, the presence of the statue is taken lightly (as, like Europeans, Brazilians do not deem nudity of pre-pubescent children to be obscene) and the statue has even been adopted as a mascot by the club. The fans usually dress it with the club's jersey after important wins. In the Netherlands, there is a small chain of chip shops called Mannekin Pis.

[edit] Fictional appearances

Manneken Pis also makes a cameo in Asterix in Belgium. The son of one of the Belgians runs away because he needs to urinate.

Manneken Pis makes a cameo in the PlayStation 2 video game God of War II as a statue during a sex scene.

It also appears in the Nintendo GameCube video game Animal Crossing (though misspelled as 'Manekin Pis'), as well as the PlayStation 2 video game Katamari Damacy, as an obtainable item.

In WarioWare: Touched for the Nintendo DS, the player must drag a hanging Manekin Pis to direct the water it is urinating to put out a fire in one of Ashley's microgames.

In the film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium by Mel Stuart the tourists also visit Manneken Pis.

Frank van Passel made a movie called Manneken Pis (film) in 1995. The main character is called "Manneken Pis" because his parents died while he was urinating near a driveway.

Manneken Pis also makes a guest appearance in Suske en Wiske (Spike and Suzy) , in issue 180 of the Red Series : "Het Kregelige Ketje", published in November 1980.

Ariel in Prospero's Books is partly made into an homage to Manneken Pis.

It appears in the video game Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2, shooting out "love" instead of urine, to warm up the world to prevent a second ice age due to the sun losing power.