Best known Danish woman: the Little Mermaid

One of the prettiest and best known Danish women is Den Lille Havfrue – The Little Mermaid. You’ll find her in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

She is a rather old lady. She has been sitting naked on a stone at the harbour, at Langelinie, for more than 90 years!

She has been there since august 1913, during winter and summer, in storm, in snow, in rain and sunshine. She has been frown upon, photographed, touched, kissed, and admired by millions of visitors who have travelled from all over the world to come and se her. Sure, you have already guessed who is she. The Little Mermaid of Denmark is the largest tourist attraction and National Symbol. Who don’t knowThe Little Mermaid Denmark?. Hans Christian Andersen wrote fairy tale about her in 1837 and later Walt Disney produced the movie. Every year some millions of people visit her and thousand of souvenirs and t-shirts are sold totourists. She is as important for Copenhagen as statue of liberty for New York and pyramids for Egypt. She is probably the most famous Danish lady. And of course, The Litte Mermaid Denmark is a wonderful creation of Famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.

The figure is also rather small  : 1.25 m, but she is made of bronze and therefore she is also very heavy :175 kilo. And maybe therefore she seems to be able to stand the fuss.The figure is inspired by the fairytale. It was first published in 1837, and several years later tranformed into a ballet.

But be warned: the woman figure you find in the fairytale has not much in common with the typical danish woman of today

BTW: Did you know that other sculptures are inspired by Hans Christian Andersens fairytale about the little Mermaid? Among them is a very nice sculpture from 1949 placed in the Zoological Garden of Odense. Odense is a city on the Danish island Fyn about 2 hours from Copenhagen where H.C. Andersen were born.

But let’s turn to our little mermaid.. She is a clear image from our childhood. The Little Mermaid has provided inspiration for many generations. All kids know our bellowed fairy tale about the Little Mermaid who at age of 15 saved the life of shipwrecked prince and fall in love with him. But to become a human the Little Mermaid has to give up her lovely voice. (However ,in most of the folk traditions , mermaids are hostile to all men from surface. Mostly in folklore they lure sailors to deaths. Take for example such significant story like Odyssey. The singing of the sirens is so beautiful that men jump into the sea ).

And now you can easily find 92 year old bronze sculpture The little Mermaid sitting at Langelinie ( longest embankment in the city ) Only a 10-minute walk from the cruise ship pier in Copenhagen. ( Metro stop – Osterport , or take buss 1,6,9).

But the history of the Little Mermaid wasn’t so easy . Throughout history, the Little Mermaid has provided inspiration to many.

The idea to construct such monument came to Brewer Carl Jacobsen founder of probably best beer in the world -Carlsberg. When the Danish brewer, Carl Jacobsen, attended a performance of ballet master Hans Beck’s “The Little Mermaid” in 1909, he was so thrilled with the performance, particularly by leading prima donna Ellen Price that he ordered a statue to be erected in honour of the story.

He asked sculptor Edvard Eriksen( Naturalistic sculptor . 1876-1959) to create this splendid sculpture. And as the result 23 August 1913 Carl Jacobsen made generous gift to Copenhagen city- bronze sculpture of the Little Mermaid Denmark ( which weighs 175 kg ).

Still exist some uncertainties if Ellen Prince ( Sole dancer at the Royal Theatre 1903-1913 ) really modeled for this sculpture.

Exist an opinion that Ellen didn’t want to pose naked , and Eriksen had to ask his own wife to pose instead of her. But anyway the head is exact reflection of Ellen Prince.

The impression from this sculpture is actually controversial. And frankly speaking mostly people find her too SMALL. Because thisGreat monument is only 1,6 meter high. And she is supposed to disappoint you .

Like a millions of other people. But still it is worth to visit the Little Mermaid Denmark because it is really impossible to imagine Copenhagen without it.

The statue has sat on her boulder since August 23, 1913, but has had a very turbulent life She has been dowsed in paint numerous times, had her right arm amputated, been decapitated three times, and even pushed from her rock in 2003. Fortunately, the sculptor made a mold, so the Little Mermaid’s “parts” have been reattached from the original mold.

It may sound strange but The Little Mermaid of Denmark survived the Great Depressionand the world war 2 , while modern times haven’t been so kind to her. Here are the cases when she was vandalized:

• 28 April 1961 – the hair of the Little Mermaid Denmark was painted with red paint and she was dressed in nice bra.
• 24 April 1963 –she was painted with red paint.
• In the night 23-24 April 1964 unknown vandal cut off her head.  Police couldn’t manage to find it . One joker , Danish writer Jorgen Nash told that it was he who has committed this crime. He gave metal box to Danish national museum and told that the head inside. But unfortunately due to Danish law . They can open the box only 50 years after this person will die. And he is still alive. So this is really joke with long beard.
• 15 July 1976 – she was drenched with same colorpaint again.
• 22 July 1984 – her right arm was cut off. Some days later two man return the arm. They told that they had amputated the arm then they were deadly drunk.
• 5 August 1990 – was discovered the attempt to cut off again the head to lady. 18 cm long cut .
• 6 January 1998 – the Little Mermaid lost her head for the second time.
• 11 September 2003 – she was knocked down from her stone . All tourists were shocked then discover haven’t found Famous Danish lady at her usual place.

For now it is still very acute question . Officials in Denmark is considering moving this famous landmark – the Little MermaidDenmark sculpture- in order to protect it from tourists and vandals. They are planning to move here several metresoffshore.

“It is natural way to protect her. We are doing a preliminary inquiry to see what would be required from both an aesthetic and an economic point of view. We should have a clearerpicture by this spring or summer”, – said Jens Peter Munk- Copenhagen’s keeper of public monuments.

Many tourists from all around the Globe arrive to Denmark because they want to meet most famous danish women.