The Little Mermaid Statue & Story – Hans Christian Andersen
1. The Little Mermaid statue Copenhagen
2. The Little Mermaid story by Hans Christian Andersen
3. Disney’s Little Mermaid
4. Copies and translations
5. Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen
Inspired by the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid statue was created as a gift from the renowned brewer Carl Jacobsen from the Carlsberg Breweries in Denmark – and was unveiled on August 23 1913. Ever since, it has stood at its location at Langelinie, receiving visitors from all over the world.
Today, The Little Mermaid has become an iconic top tourist attraction and an attractive landmark in Copenhagen. So, why was the statue conceived, and what is the true story behind it?
The Little Mermaid statue is one of the top tourist attractions in Copenhagen | Photo: Travel In Culture
The brewer Carl Jacobsen became deeply fascinated by a ballet performance in 1909 at The Royal Theatre, namely the ballet about the delightful little mermaid. Subsequently, he asked the female ballet dancer in the lead role, Ellen Price, if she would model for the statue. Unfortunately, the ballerina declined to be a nude model.
Instead, the sculptor Edvard Eriksen sculpted The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. He was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen for the project and used his wife, Eline Eriksen, as the willing model who posed for the The Little Mermaid sculpture.
Where is the Little Mermaid statue located? The statue was produced in pure bronze, and The Little Mermaid found its place at Langelinie in Copenhagen, where she still sits gazing into the sea, welcoming visitors from near and far to Copenhagen and Denmark.
It is eye-catching that The Little Mermaid statue is twin-tailed, whereas most other mermaids usually are described, depicted, and modelled as single-tailed.
Although seemingly small, her size exceeds the size of an average person by about 25%. Surprisingly, the context in Copenhagen Harbour, with its impressive natural elements, creates an optical illusion and makes the statue look much smaller.
Where is The Little Mermaid statue Copenhagen? | Photo: Paolo Ghedini
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Edvard Eriksen only allowed the creation of smaller sculptures around the world as copies of the original Little Mermaid statue, such that Copenhagen unambiguously would hold the most impressive and authentic statue.
The statue has numerous times been exposed to vandalism. On several occasions, she has had her head, or an arm, removed, and The Little Mermaid has also been subject to acts involving paint. Yet each time, she has had the missing parts replaced and has been restored to her original state.
Hans Christian Andersen in front of Tivoli, Copenhagen | Photo: MDel / Pixabay
In 1837, the famed Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) wrote the fabled story ‘The Little Mermaid’, which was published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen as part of the collection Fairy tales told for children.
The tale of Danish origin, the original Little Mermaid story, is about an adorable young mermaid, out of a family of six motherless mermaid sisters, who live with their father, the sea king, and their grandmother in an underwater world of mermaids and mermen. At fifteen, her grandmother lets her swim to the surface to observe life above the sea. The Little Mermaid then discovers a prince inside a royal sailing ship who is the precise same prince whom she keeps a statue of in her underwater garden made of various parts of shipwrecks. Seemingly, they celebrate his birthday on board the ship.
However, shortly after, the ship with the prince sinks in a disastrous storm, where only the prince survives, thanks to the mermaid. She is aware that he, as a human, cannot live underwater and takes him to a nearby temple. However, before he reveals her identity, she flees, and instead, a young woman happens to be at the prince’s side when he regains consciousness. He then believes that it was this woman who rescued him.
A sea witch now appears with a potion that can transform The Little Mermaid’s tail into proper legs. She can now walk on land and get acquainted with the handsome prince, to whom she is deeply attracted. The disadvantage or price is that she will have to give up her beautiful voice and no longer be able to sing, and her feet will hurt every time she takes a step. Moreover, to become ‘human’ and make her soul mortal, she will have to make the prince fall in love and marry her. If not, she will die.
The Little Mermaid Statue Copenhagen – and a ‘mermaid sister’ | Photo: Ophelia Cherry / Pixabay
The Little Mermaid is so desperate to marry the prince that she gives up her mermaid life. She drinks the liquid and passes out. It is now the prince’s turn to find her. However, when meeting the prince, she cannot explain to him that she was the one who rescued him since she is now mute.
The prince is soon supposed to marry a princess in a neighbouring kingdom, who turns out to be the girl who found him after he was brought ashore. The prince is convinced that he can only love the one who rescued him, who he now believes is the foreign princess, and he happily accepts to marry her.
The Little Mermaid now realises she will die since she has failed to gain his love. Her mermaid sisters now bring her a magical dagger they have received from the sea witch in exchange for their hair. Their poor sister is now supposed to plunge it into the prince’s heart to get his blood to fall onto her feet and merge into a fishtail. She will then be able to return to the underwater world again.
Although tempting, the little mermaid cannot kill the prince and destroy the marriage between the prince and the princess. Determined, she throws the dagger into the sea, immediately dissolves into foam and becomes a daughter of the air. Miraculously, she now has the chance to gain an eternal soul by providing cooling breezes to the hot global winds for three centuries. She may even shorten the period if she finds children who bring credit to their parents, whereas she will extend it if the children disgrace them instead.
Hans Christian Andersen ends the contemplative story of The Little Mermaid here – leaving it for the reader’s interpretation.
The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen | Photo: Travel In Culture
The Little Mermaid Disney movie is an animated musical fantasy film from 1989, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Pictures. It was based loosely on The Little Mermaid story by Hans Christian Andersen.
In the film, the famous story about the underwater mermaid comes alive. A mermaid princess Ariel fantasises about getting a human body and falls in love with the prince, Eric. Through a magic sea witch, her dream comes true. The film was written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker.
If possible, The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen seemingly got even more fame after the premiere of the Disney film. It won two Academy Awards for Best Song (‘Under the Sea’) and Best Original Music Score. Probably, it contributed to a Disney Renaissance, which brought the animated films to life again.
Not just one, but two video sequels (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning) succeeded! So did an animated television series.
As an interesting fact, The Little Mermaid is the last Disney feature film using hand-painting. Later, films used a digital method to colour and combine pictures.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote the famous Little Mermaid story | Photo: Oleg Ilyushin / Pixabay
The adorable Hans Christian Andersen mermaid statue is known worldwide! Unarguably, the fairy tale is a unique story, and many people have both read the renowned story and come to Copenhagen to see the spectacular mermaid statue!
The statue has also been subject to the creation of copies. Around the world, a certain number of identical little mermaid statues have been erected. The only visible difference is the size. The Copenhagen Little Mermaid is nearly always larger than the copies, and it definitely should be, provided the copies comply with the rules imposed by the creator.
Copies of the nude Copenhagen Little Mermaid statue can be found, for example, in California, Iowa, Romania, Madrid, Seoul and South Korea. Worldwide, at least 13 complete copies exist. Calgary in Canada has a half-sized copy, and the grave of the Danish-American entertainer Victor Borge has another copy!
Hans Christian Andersen lived here at Nyhavn for long periods during his life, 1845-1864 and 1871-1875 | Photo: Travel In Culture
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense in 1805. He lost his father when he was only 11, and his mother then made an effort to provide him with even three apprenticeships: as a weaver, as a tobacconist and as a tailor. However, he didn’t show enough motivation and interest in any of these to continue one of these paths. He was attracted by books, stories, and plays and sought opportunities within one of these fields.
When he was 14, he decided to move to Copenhagen to seek employment as an actor. In the beginning, he earned a bit by singing in a choir at The Royal Theatre.
A few years later, he came across the director of The Royal Theatre, Jonas Collins, who was impressed by the plays that Hans Christian Andersen wrote. He arranged for the young man to go to school in Slagelse and Elsinore and arranged for his education to be paid for by King Frederik VI. Later, he got a private tutor who saw to it that Andersen prepared for the entrance examination to Copenhagen University.
In 1835, Andersen published the first part of the collection ‘Fairy tales told for children‘ – including the stories The Tinder Box, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Princess and the Pea and Little Ida’s Flowers. Two more parts followed during the next couple of years, including famous fairy tales such as The Little Mermaid story, The Emperor’s New Clothes and Thumbelina.
Between 1845 and 1864, Hans Christian Andersen resided in Copenhagen in the narrow house at Nyhavn No. 67. Today, there is a memorial plaque on this building. For a short time, he also lived at Nyhavn No. 18 (1871-1875).
Would you like to get inspiration for 3 days in Copenhagen? Then read Nyhavn, Tivoli Gardens, Christiania, Rosenborg… How to Spend 3 Days in Copenhagen
Read next: The Carlsberg Elephants in Copenhagen and Hans Christian Andersen in Odense
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