Copenhagen Travel Guide

The Little Mermaid Statue

The Little Mermaid, basking on a rock at the Langelinie Harbour, is one of Copenhagen's biggest tourist attractions. The sculpture was put up in 1913, and over a million people visit the mermaid every year. At only about 4 feet (1.25m) high, she is very small, with naked breasts and a fish tail; she seems to be in her true element when the waves crash against her rock. The sculptor, Edvard Eriksen, modelled the mermaid's head after ballerina Ellen Price. When the ballerina wouldn't model in the nude for the body, the sculptor's wife posed for him. There are some similarities between the Little Mermaid and the 'Pania of the Reef' statue on the Napier beachfront in New Zealand, and with Vancouver's 'Girl in a Wetsuit' sculpture.