Den lille Havfrue, Copenhagen

Den lille Havfrue is a bronze statue of a mermaid in the act of becoming human, created by Edvard Eriksen and set on a rock beside the water along Copenhagen’s Langelinie promenade. The figure is 1.25 metres tall and weighs 175 kilograms, giving this famous city symbol a surprisingly modest physical presence. It was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale and unveiled on August 23, 1913, after a commission from Carl Jacobsen.

The ballerina Ellen Price was invited to model, but the statue’s complete model was Eriksen’s wife, Eline; the face was not based on Price, despite a popular story claiming that it was. The statue has endured repeated attacks. Its head was cut off in 1964 and replaced, an arm was severed in 1984 and returned two days later, and explosives knocked it from its base into the harbour in 2003.

It has been restored after every episode. What you can see here, then, is not a grand monument but a compact figure carrying an unusually turbulent history: a quiet fairy-tale transformation in metal, repeatedly made the focus of political statements and public mischief.