Manneken Pis
The earliest mention of the existence of "Manneken Pis" can be found in an administrative document, dating from 1451–52, about the water lines supplying the fountains of Brussels. From the beginning, the fountain played an essential role in the distribution of drinking water. It stood on a column and poured water into a double rectangular basin of stone. The only representations of this first statue can be found, very schematically, in a painting by Denis Van Alsloot representing Brussels' Ommegang of 1615, as well as in a preparatory drawing to this painting.