The Little Mermaid Statue, Copenhagen — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Little Mermaid is Copenhagen's most famous landmark, a bronze statue sitting on a rock at the Langelinie promenade, gazing out over the harbour.

The statue was unveiled on August 23, 1913, and was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, the founder of Carlsberg Breweries, after he became enchanted by a ballet performance of Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale. The sculptor, Edvard Eriksen, originally wanted the ballerina Ellen Price to model for the figure, but she declined to pose nude. Eriksen's wife, Eline, became the model for the body, while Price's face was used for the head.

At just 1.25 metres tall and weighing 175 kilograms, the statue is surprisingly small in person, something that catches many visitors off guard. But its power lies in its simplicity: a figure caught between two worlds, just like Andersen's mermaid.

The statue has had a turbulent history. It has been vandalized repeatedly: its head has been sawn off twice (1964 and 1998), its arm was removed in 1984, and it has been covered in paint, dressed in a burqa, and adorned with various protest messages over the decades. Each time, it has been restored.

In 2010, the statue was temporarily relocated to the Danish Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, the first time it had left Copenhagen.

The Little Mermaid is free to visit and is a short walk from the Kastellet fortress and the Gefion Fountain. If you're on a Questo quest through Copenhagen, she's a stop where fairy tale and reality sit together on a harbour rock.