ABSTRACT
In the context of Belgium, frequently proclaimed to have been profoundly bourgeois at the inception of the state in 1830, Manneken Pis becomes the embodiment of the stereotypical Belgian. Belgium has traditionally been ruled by an aristocracy from outside its frontiers both before and after the bourgeois revolution which voted for the installation of a foreign monarch. North Americans, among the tourists who spend most on their foreign travels, also frequently visit Belgium when coming to Europe, probably because they revisit canonical tourist destinations defined in tourism's early years. Manneken Pis is represented as a human child, the son of tradesmen, who is honoured for his contribution to the city and wins political representation for his class. The punchline to his enumeration of Manneken Pis's economic activity in Vehenne's list, 'guide-interprète' refers to a costume given to the fountain during the 1958 Brussels Expo.
