Manneken Pis or The Subversion of a Water Pipe

The symbol of Brussels is a naked little lad pissing in public.The pissing child would become the hero of many a tale. The stories even refer to times long before the first statue existed. In fact this is really a tale of water pipes... Manneken Pis stands for the lightly satirical attitude with which the people of Brussels greet any form of authority. He may appear to be hidden away in a corner of an unprepossessing side street, but the entire world comes to see him. A pissing toddler in a corner of the European capital – I cannot imagine a better remedy for Europe’s conceitedness.