July, 1986
Perched on a rock in Denmark’s Copenhagen Harbor is the iconic statue The Little Mermaid.
The son of a Copenhagen brewing company’s founder, Carl Jacobsen, commissioned Edvard Eriksen to sculpt the bronze statue in 1909. His idea was inspired by the production of the fairytale The Little Mermaid, which took place at the Copenhagen Royal Theatre. The prima ballerina Ellen Price was asked to model for the bust of the statue. The model for the body was the wife of the sculptor, Eline Eriksen. The finished statue was unveiled in 1913. Fortunately the original statue is preserved by the sculptor’s family, but a copy has been in the public view for nearly a century. It has suffered much vandalism over the years and has undergone many repairs, but still remains a beautiful tourist attraction to those who travel to Copenhagen.
S.E. Robertson
The Little Mermaid (Danish: Den lille havfrue) is a statue depicting a mermaid, in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since 1913. It has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists.