Manneken Pis 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 towns of Geraardsbergen, Broksele and Hasselt. There is an ongoing dispute over which Manneken Pis is the oldest - the one in Brussels or the one in Geraardsbergen.

This bizarre little statue is the most popular tourist attraction in Brussels. Famously touted as a glorious example of Belgian humour and capacity for self-mockery, there remains something ridiculous about the elevation of a small, peeing boy to the status of cultural icon.

Legend surrounds the Mannekin Pis. Nobody knows why he was created but there are many stories. We are free to pick the one we like the best.

One such story (with many variations) places our "Wee Boy" as the savior of the city, drowning out the flames of a deadly fire with his wee-wee. Another variation is that he, with precise aim, extinguished the fuse that would have caused a devastating explosion.

Another story has our fellow as a street urchin who was unwise enough to relieve himself on the doorway of an evil sorcerer who then condemned him to that position and to pee for eternity.

The bronze statuette stands nonchalant before the little pool on the Rue de l'Etuve into which he pees. Created in the 17th century by one J Duquesney, his air belies his dramatic life: he has been the victim of several acts of vandalism and been kidnapped by both the British (1745) and the French (1747). In 1817 he got into the clumsy hands of a French convict, who smashed him to pieces: from the fragments was built the figurine you see today.