At the pier of Langelinje the famous Copenhagen attraction,
the Little Mermaid sits on her rock gazing across the shore looking for her
lost love. The 1.25 metre, 175 kg heavy statue welcomes tourists from around
the world to Copenhagen.
A tribute to the character
As with many other national landmarks across the
world, the Little Mermaid was not originally constructed in order to
become the great Copenhagen attraction that it is today. The Little Mermaid was
commissioned by Carlsberg heir
Carl Jacobsen after he saw a ballet about the fairytale at the Royal
Danish Theatre in 1909. Carl Jacobsen was enthralled by the character
and by the performance of ballerina Ellen Price and commissioned sculptor
Edvard Eriksen to create the statue in its remembrance.
The Little Mermaid becomes a Copenhagen attraction
The statue was revealed in 1913, but it was not until the
1930s that the Little Mermaid became a major attraction. Before that the Danes
were more interested in the northern myths and sagas and attractions like the Gefion
Fountain were more popular. In the 1930s the Danes, however, came to
celebrate romance and nature and the Little Mermaid became a symbol of the
wonderful romance and fairy tale like city of Copenhagen.
A headless history
On the night of the 25th of April 1964, the Little Mermaid
was decapitated in an act of vandalism causing a lot of commotion. The artist
Jørgen Nash claimed to know the perpetrator but refused to tell who it was. He
later in 1998 admitted to be the perpetrator himself. In 1984 the Little
Mermaid was again vandalised and her right arm cut off and in 1998 the head was
cut off for the second time. Both times the bodyparts were quickly returned to
the police and the sculpture restored.
Taking part in politics
As a Danish national symbol, the Little Mermaid has been
the centre of political protests. The decapitation in 1964 is assumed to have
been done from political motives, and many times she has been covered in paint
in order to promote a political agenda. Every time the Little Mermaid is
however quickly restored to her beautiful self, leaving her with a longing gaze
across the shore looking for love without a care for politics.
The gaze across the shore
The Little Mermaid is created on the basis of the fairy
tale of the same name by world-famous Danish storyteller Hans
Christian Andersen. In this fairy tale the mermaid falls in love with a
prince on land and the statue therefore depicts the mermaid sitting on a stone
in the sea longing to be human and meet her prince.
A long wait
The Little Mermaid is a patient old lady as she has now
been sitting on the stone for more than a hundred years. In 2010 she was,
however, in China as part of the Expo 2010 and replaced by a live transmission
from Shanghai on the harbour. Today she is back in her old place gazing over
the Copenhagen
Harbour.
visitdenmark.co.uk
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