The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen

Familiarity with the Copenhagen tourists traditionally begins with this place. The bronze Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue map) is a symbol of the Danish capital and the most popular place in the city. If You haven't seen the little Mermaid, you haven't been to Copenhagen!

In 1909, the ballet "The Little Mermaid" based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Anderson was staged at the Royal theatre. Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder of the brewery "Carlsberg" and a passionate fan of the theater, came from the production in full delight and decided to perpetuate their emotions in bronze. He commissioned a statue of the fairy-tale character to sculptor Edward Eriksen and invited prima ballerina Ellen Price to become a model. The ballerina agreed, but refused to pose in the nude, and the sculptor had to settle for only her head, and the body was sculpted from his wife, Elina Eriksen. The work was completed in 1913 and the statue was installed on a pedestal of large boulders near the Langelinie embankment.

The little mermaid became world-famous, and copies of the statue were discovered in Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and Sydney. Since the mid-60s, the sculpture has been repeatedly subjected to acts of vandalism: on April 24, 1964, the statue's head was sawn off and stolen by the Marxist-minded artists ' movement. The head was never found. On July 22, 1984, the little Mermaid's right hand was sawed off by two teenagers, who were quickly found and two days later the hand was restored to its original place. In 1990, when trying to steal the head, an 18 cm deep cut was made on the neck. on January 6, 1998, she was beheaded again. The culprits were not found. The head was returned anonymously, left near a television station. On February 4, the head was set back. The statue was smeared with red paint several times, including once in 1961 when her hair was dyed red and a bra was painted on it. On September 11, 2003, the statue was torn from its pedestal by an explosive device.in 2004, it was wrapped in a burqa to protest against Turkey's accession to the European Union. On March 8, 2006, a Dildo was tied to the statue's arm, the figure was splattered with green paint, and the inscription "March 8"was printed on the pedestal. The spring of 2007 was particularly fruitful for attempts - in March and may, the statue was again stained with pink paint, and on may 20 it was dressed in a Muslim dress. Finally, the city authorities got tired of all this, and they announced that they plan to move the statue further from the shore. Thus, the little Mermaid wanted to protect both from vandals and from too zealous tourists who are constantly trying to climb the monument. Oddly enough, after that, the attacks on the monument stopped.

In the fall of 2010, I found naked stones here - the mermaid left Copenhagen for the first time and visited the EXPO in China. And now Chinese tourists are its main guests.