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The King's Palace
Built near the Brussels Park, hosts the King's offices and services
and plays a mainly ceremonial role. The King and Queen's residence is a palace just outside town, linked to the centre of
town by means of the Royal Avenue. The Belgian flag, black, yellow and red, flies from the palace when the king is in the
country.
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| "Manneken-Pis", the cities Mascot (1619) is a Statue of a Little Boy Urinating! |
Manneken Pis
One of the popular sights in Brussels is Duquenoy's sculpture of a little boy relieving his bladder,
called Manneken Pis. There are several anecdotes about the origins of the statue -- one of them that the little boy was found
resorting to this natural kind of fire-extinguisher to douse an arsonist's fuse, thus saving part of the town from what might
have been a murderous fire at the time when many houses were still built in wood. Most tourists expect a large statue; actually,
it is hardly 2 ft tall. Manneken Pis has a whole wardrobe of costumes. Famous foreign visitors and heads of state will sometimes
thoughtfully offer him a suit of clothes. The costumes are displayed at the Brussels Historical Museum at the Grand Place.
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La Grand Place
This building is called the King’s House in French, but no king
has ever lived there. In Flemish it is more appropriately called Broodhuis (Bread House), attesting to the fact that at one
time it used to be the Bakers’ Hall. It was subsequently rebuilt to house the administrative offices of Charles V. It
is here that the martyrs of the Reformation, Henry Voes and Jean Van Eschen as well as Egmont and Hornes were executed. Today,
it hosts the Museum of the City of Brussels.
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| La Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium |
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| La Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium |
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| La Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium |
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