The original Manneken Pis
Duquesnoy's original bronze from 1619.
Myrabella — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Brussels City Museum occupies the "King's House" — the imposing neo-Gothic building facing the Town Hall on the Grand-Place (rebuilt 1873–1895 in sixteenth-century style). No king ever lived there; the name comes from its role as the administrative seat of the duke and then the Spanish king. Today it is the museum of the city's history, and its façade alone is among the square's finest. Its first treasure: the original Manneken Pis statue (1619), replaced on the street by a copy in 1965 — you see it here up close. Then models of the city across the centuries explaining how Brussels grew, tapestries and paintings (including "The Wedding Procession" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder), ceramics, and fragments of the square's original façades from before the 1695 bombardment. On the Grand-Place itself — the best historical complement to a visit of the square, one hour suffices. Closed Mondays.
Duquesnoy's original bronze from 1619.
Brussels across the centuries in scale models.
Bruegel the Elder's painting and the square's pre-1695 façades.
Grand-Place, 1000 Brussels
Grand-PlaceThe Grand-Place is the heart of Brussels and one of the world's most beautiful s1 minute walk4.8
Fashion and Lace MuseumA municipal museum near the Grand Place showing costume and textiles, its most i2 minutes walk3.8
Galeries Royales Saint-HubertThe Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert are among Europe's first covered shopping arca2 minutes walk4.6
Manneken PisManneken Pis is Brussels' most famous citizen and its smallest: a bronze statue 4 minutes walk3.9
KBR MuseumA museum inside the Royal Library of Belgium, opened in 2020 around one specific5 minutes walk4.7If you care about the city's history or want to see the original Manneken Pis: a good hour on the square itself. For others: the façade from outside suffices, and Magritte and the Comics museum deserve the time more. Ideal in rain given its spot on the square.