In honour of the little peeing boy's 400th birthday, Manneken Pis will be the guest of honour at Winter Wonders in Brussels at the end of the year.
Manneken Pis has been in Brussels since 1619, and is the second-most visited attraction in Brussels with over 30,000 visitors every day.
The Grand Place Christmas tree will be decorated in the colours of the Belgian flag, as well as 120 baubles and 1.5 km of fairy lights, 50 wooden Manneken Pis figurines, and baubles containing the boy.
A treasure hunt along the Winter Wonders route will also be organised via a geolocation app that players can use to find clues to win a Manneken Pis replica. The route will also give players the opportunity to discover certain areas of Brussels that otherwise may go unnoticed by the general public.
Brussels museums are asking local children to design a new outfit for the little boy. The chosen project will be turned into a costume by the official tailor and added to the GardeRobe collection after a ceremony on 7 May 2020.
Additionally, the Belgian Royal Mint and Dutch Royal Mint have designed a new €2.5 Belgian coin to celebrate Manneken Pis’ 400th birthday, which is already legal tender in Belgium and presented in a coin card.
On 19 December, Manneken Pis' birthday will be celebrated in the City Hall on the Grand Place in Brussels, with a local DJ, Daddy K, who is a prominent figure in the Belgian hip-hop movement.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
