Manneken Pis - Replicas

Replicas

Although the Manneken Pis in Brussels is the best-known, others exist. There is an ongoing dispute over which Manneken Pis is the oldest - the one in Brussels or the one in Geraardsbergen. Similar statues can also be found in the Belgian cities of Hasselt, Ghent, in the town of Braine-l'Alleud (where it is called "Il Gamin Quipiche"), and in the French Flemish village of Broxeele, a town with the same etymology as Brussels. In Bali, Indonesia, there is a Belgian restaurant called Mannekepis. It even has the exact replica of the statue standing in front of the restaurant, urinating.

In many countries, replicas in brass or fiberglass are commonplace swimming or garden-pool decorations. Many copies exist worldwide as garden ornaments. Manneken Pis has also been adapted into such risqué souvenir items as ashtrays and corkscrews.

In September 2002, a Belgian-born waffle-maker in Florida, named Assayag, set up a replica in front of his waffle stand in the Orlando Fashion Square mall in Orlando, Florida. He recalled the legend as 'the boy who saved Brussels from fire by extinguishing it with his urine' (confusing the legend with an incident in Gulliver's Travels perhaps). Some shocked shoppers made a formal complaint. Mall officials said that the waffle-shop owner did not follow procedures when he put up the statue and was therefore in violation of his lease.

In contrast, there is a similar statue in Rio de Janeiro in front of the quarters of Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, a famous football club from Brazil. There, the presence of the statue is taken lightly, and it has even been adopted as a mascot by the club. Fans usually dress it with the club's jersey after important wins.

A working replica of Manneken Pis stands on the platform of Hamamatsuchō Station in Tokyo, Japan. The statue is a great source of pride for station workers who dress it in various costumes—traditional and otherwise—at different times of year.