The Little Mermaid statue is a landmark in which European capital?

The Little Mermaid statue is a landmark in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The small bronze sculpture sits on a rock beside the water at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen Harbour.

Sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the statue, which was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, the son of Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen. It was unveiled on 23 August 1913 and was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale about a mermaid who longs to become human.

The statue is only about 1.25 metres tall, so visitors are often surprised by its modest size. The ballerina Ellen Price helped inspire the commission, but Eriksen’s wife, Eline, modelled for the statue’s body and ultimately the entire figure. The sculpture has been repeatedly vandalised but restored each time.

Copenhagen’s statue should not be confused with Warsaw’s Mermaid, a different symbol associated with Poland’s capital. The Copenhagen figure is also one of the city’s most recognisable tourist icons.