Though its existence is attested as early as the mid-15th century,[2] Manneken Pis was redesigned by the Brabantine sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1619.

[4][8] Manneken Pis is one of the best-known symbols of Brussels and Belgium, inspiring several legends, as well as numerous imitations and similar statues both nationally and abroad.

[4][5] 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.

The only representations of this first statue can be found, very schematically, on a map by the cartographers Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, in which the fountain appeared to be installed directly on the street and not on a corner as it is today.

[c] During that time, the column supporting the statue and the double rectangular basin collecting water were completely remodelled by the stone cutter Daniel Raessens.

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.

[25] In 1770, the column and the double rectangular basin disappeared; the statue was integrated into a new decor, in the form of a stone niche in rocaille style, originating from another dismantled fountain of Brussels.

To calm things down, the King of France, Louis XV, offered a gentleman's gown of brocade, embroidered with gold, to Manneken Pis.

The perpetrator was heavily punished; he was condemned to forced labour for life, and was first tied for an hour to stocks on the Grand-Place/Grote Markt.

[4][5] The original statue was broken into eleven pieces during this abduction and was restored by a specialised welder, under the supervision of sculptor Gilles-Lambert Godecharle.

[34] In June 1966, the Antwerp magazine De Post received an anonymous phone call, signalling that the "body" was in the Charleroi Canal.

[35] Restored once again, the statue was sheltered and the original version is now kept and displayed on the second floor of the Brussels City Museum, at the King's House, on the Grand-Place.

The solution was announced during Brussels Water Week where city officials cited the situation as motivation to check for similar problems in other fountains.

To give themselves courage, the soldiers placed the infant lord in a basket which they hung from a large oak tree overlooking the battlefield.

While his men were in dire straits, the little duke rose up in the basket, and from his perch, urinated onto the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle.

[39][4] 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.

[41] His wardrobe consists of around one thousand different costumes, many of which could previously be viewed in a permanent exhibition inside the Brussels City Museum, located on the Grand-Place, immediately opposite the Town Hall.

[24][25] He received his first costume on 1 May 1698 from the Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria, during the festivities of one of the Guilds of Brussels.

[23][4] The oldest costume on display in the City Museum, the gentleman's gown offered by King Louis XV, is also of 17th-century origin.

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 Brussels City Museum exhibits a copy which was crafted by Jacques Van den Broeck in 1630, probably from a cast of Duquesnoy's statue.

[5][50] According to tradition, Geraardsbergen was in a rebuilding phase after the devastating passage of Jean II de Croÿ's troops in the spring of 1452, during a war opposing the city of Ghent and the Burgundian duke Philip the Good.

[51][52] The statue was cast in brass by Reinier Van Tienen, based on a model designed by Gillis Vander Jeught.

Official copies were offered to:[53] A replica of Manneken Pis has pride of place in the lobby of the police station of Poitiers, France, commemorating the fact that this city was, for 26 days, the seat of the Belgian government during World War II.

[54] Similar copies of the statue exist in the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora,[55] in the Danish town of Bogense,[56] as well as in Chiayi Park in Taiwan.

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 on a blue-grey limestone base.

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.