Little Mermaid

Lonely Planet review

When the world thinks of Copenhagen, the statue of the Little Mermaid is probably the first image that springs to mind. Love it or loath it, this small unremarkable statue must be the most photographed sight in the country, as well as the cause of perhaps countless indifferent 'yeah, so?' shrugs from tourists who have trudged the kilometre or so along an often windswept harbourfront to see her.

In 1909 the Danish beer baron Carl Jacobsen was so moved after attending a ballet performance based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Little Mermaid that he commissioned sculptor Edvard Eriksen to create a statue of the eponymous lady-fish to grace Copenhagen's harbourfront.

The face of the famous statue was modelled after the ballerina Ellen Price, while Eline Eriksen, the sculptor's wife, modelled for the body.

The Little Mermaid survived the Great Depression and the WWII occupation unscathed, but modern times haven't been so kind to Denmark's leading lady. Unfortunately, many do seem to loathe this tiny statue. She has lost her head a couple of times, as well as her arms in attacks by vandals and protesters trying to make various political points.

Partly in response to this, Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard was commissioned by Carlsberg in 2006 to create a new Little Mermaid. He came up with a 'genetically altered' mermaid that sits not far from the original beside the harbour and is, in fact, probably truer in spirit to the rather bleak, twisted Andersen fairy tale. Unlike the Disney version, of course, Andersen's mermaid suffers all manner of physical and emotional torments, and definitely doesn't get her man.