Historic Buildings & Monuments

The ornately decorated Bourse (Stock Exchange), rue Henri Maus 2 (tel. 02/509-12-11; Métro: Bourse), a landmark of the French Second Empire architectural style, dates from 1873. It's a temple to the venerable religion of making money, and is not open to casual visitors.

You may not want to spend too much time around the Palais de Justice (Palace of Justice), place Poelaert (adjacent to place Louise; tel. 02/508-65-78; Métro: Louise). This is, after all, where people who have run afoul of the law go directly to jail. Nonetheless, it's worth viewing architect Joseph Poelaert's extravagant (some would say megalomaniac) 19th-century neoclassical temple dedicated to the might and majesty of the law. The palace's domed magnificence looms over the rebellious, working-class Marolles district, a none-too-subtle warning to the lower orders that its creators undoubtedly considered salutary. You can visit the reception hall of the palace, which is open Monday to Friday from 9 to 11:30am and 1:30 to 3pm. Admission is free.

Not much has survived of the architecture of Burgundian-era Brussels; even the royal palace of the Burgundians and their Habsburg successors bit the dust due to fire. Part of the 15th/16th-century palace survives above ground, 2 blocks east of Gare Centrale, in the redbrick Hôtel Ravenstein, rue Ravenstein 1-3 (Métro: Gare Centrale). Like the Hôtel de Ville, this is not a hotel at all. It houses a professional institute and the fancy French restaurant Le Relais des Caprices. But it does give you some idea of what Burgundian-era Brussels looked like -- at least in those parts of the city occupied by blue bloods.

The only surviving gateway from Brussels's once imposing 14th-century defensive walls is the squat and imposing Porte de Hal, at the junction of avenue de la Porte de Hal and chaussée de Waterloo (Métro: Porte de Hal).

Manneken-Pis

A fountain in the shape a urinating child, the famous small bronze sculpture on the corner of rue du Chêne and rue de l'Etuve (Métro: Gare Centrale), 2 blocks south of the Grand-Place, is Brussels's favorite character, gleefully doing what a little boy's gotta do. More often than not he's watched by a throng of admirers snapping pictures. Children especially seem to enjoy his bravura performance. This is not the original statue, which was prone to theft and anatomical maltreatment and was removed for safekeeping.

No one knows when this child first came into being, but it's clear he dates from quite a few centuries ago -- the 8th century, according to one legend. It's known that the boy's effigy has graced the city since at least the time of Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good, who became count of Flanders in 1419. Among the speculations about his origins are that he was the son of a Brussels nobleman who got lost and was found while answering nature's call, and also that he was a patriotic Belgian kid who sprinkled a hated Spanish sentry passing beneath his window. Perhaps the best theory is that he saved the Town Hall from a sputtering bomb by extinguishing it -- like Gulliver -- with the first thing handy.

Thieves have made off with the tyke several times in history. One criminal who stole and shattered the statue in 1817 was sentenced to a life of hard labor. The pieces were used to recast another version and that "original" has been removed for safekeeping. King Louis XV of France began the tradition of presenting colorful costumes to "Little Julian" to make amends for the French abduction of the statue in 1747. Since then the statue has acquired more than 500 outfits, which are housed in the Musée de la Ville in the Grand-Place. These include a Santa costume complete with a white beard, an Elvis suit, and the uniform of Britain's Welsh Guards, and each one is equipped with a strategically positioned orifice so that the little statue's normal function is not impaired

Incidentally, Manneken-Pis has a female counterpart, Jeanneke-Pis. This was the 1987 "brainwave" of a local restaurateur who wanted to attract business; its lack of grace is an embarrassment to many Bruxellois. You'll find her on impasse de la Fidélité, off of rue des Bouchers