Did you know that Manneken Pis gets 15 new costumes each year ?

Besides the Atomium and the Grand Place, Manneken Pis is without a doubt one of the main tourist attractions of the city of Brussels.

The bronze statue only weighs 17 kilos, is merely 55.5 cm high, can usually solely be admired in his birthday suit, but it still lures hundreds of curious visitors to the Rue de l'Etuve on a daily basis.

His nudity might have something to do with this. Less known, however, is that Manneken Pis does indeed have his own wardrobe. He currently owns more than 900 costumes and on average that number is increased by 15 each year.

His first costume was given to him in 1747 by the French King Louis XV. Since then, he has collected many more, each more picturesque than the next. The wardrobe of Manneken Pis includes costumes of Elvis Presley, Nelson Mandela, Dracula, a cyclist from the Tour de France and even… an astronaut!

Even though he has plenty of choice and he could easily wear a different costume every day of the year, Manneken Pis never hides his nudity for more than 130 days a year.