Brussels › Places and landmarks
Manneken Pis
A bronze boy barely half a metre tall, with a wardrobe of more than a thousand costumes.
Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder cast the little bronze boy in 1619 for a fountain that supplied drinking water to the neighbourhood. Legends abound about who he was: a boy who saved the city by putting out a burning fuse, or a lost lordling found peeing.
The statue on the corner is a copy; the original is in the city museum. He is dressed in costumes several times a week, and on special days he pours beer.
More in Brussels
Grand-PlaceGuild houses and a Gothic town hall round one of the most beautiful squares in Europe.
Town HallThe Gothic town hall with its 96-metre tower, topped by Saint Michael slaying the dragon.
King’s HouseThe neo-Gothic house facing the town hall, home of the city museum and Manneken Pis’ wardrobe.
Galeries Royales Saint-HubertOne of the first covered shopping arcades in Europe, opened in 1847 under a glass roof.
BourseThe old stock exchange of 1873, on a boulevard that has been free of cars since 2015.
Cathedral of St Michael and St GudulaBrussels’ Gothic cathedral on the slope towards the upper town, where royal weddings are held.
Mont des ArtsThe garden steps between the lower and the upper town, with a view over the city.
SablonThe square of antique dealers and chocolatiers, below the Gothic church of Notre-Dame du Sablon.
FriesThick fries fried twice in beef fat, served in a paper cone with mayonnaise.
ChocolateThe praline was invented in Brussels, in the Galeries Saint-Hubert, in 1912.
Comic-strip wallsTintin, the Smurfs and Lucky Luke painted on the gable walls of the old town.