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This is the kind of national monuments we have in Belgium :)

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Manneken Pis, also known in French as the petit Julien, is a famous Belgian landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture (about 40 centimeters high) depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. The statue is located in the very centre of Brussels.

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

Another legend states that in the 14th century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held its ground for some time, so the attackers conceived a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Juliaanske happened to be spying on them as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city. There was at the time (middle of the 15th century, perhaps as early as 1388) a similar statue made of stone. The statue was stolen several times. In 1619 it was replaced by the current bronze statue, created by Franco-Flemish Baroque sculptor Jerome Duquesnoy, father of the more famous François.

tags manneken pis monument pee little fountain boy legend tiny belgium brussels ben heine sculpture bronze funny irony