The Little Mermaid (statue)

A small sculpture with a lasting place in Copenhagen

At the edge of Copenhagen’s harbour, a bronze figure sits on a rock and looks toward the water. The Little Mermaid is modest in scale, but her setting gives the sculpture a memorable presence: boats, quays and the open waterfront form part of the view. The work stands on the Langelinie promenade, northeast of the historic centre. It is an outdoor landmark rather than a museum exhibit, so visitors encounter it as part of a walk beside the harbour.

Sculptor Edvard Eriksen made the statue in 1913, and brewer and art patron Carl Jacobsen gave it to the City of Copenhagen. Its unveiling on 23 August 1913 began a public life that has lasted for more than a century. The figure draws on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, first published in 1837, but it is a sculpture in its own right—not a theatrical prop or a reconstruction of a film character. Its quiet pose and waterside location have helped it become one of the city’s most recognizable symbols.

From Andersen’s tale to Eriksen’s bronze

The story behind the commission links literature, dance and sculpture. Jacobsen was captivated by a ballet adaptation of Andersen’s tale at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Theatre and commissioned Eriksen to create a mermaid for the harbour. The city’s visitor authority says the ballerina Ellen Price, who danced the leading role, inspired the statue’s face. Price did not pose for the nude figure; Eriksen’s wife, Eline, modelled for its body. Those details offer a more specific history than the common shorthand that the statue simply “is” Andersen’s mermaid.

Its fame has not made the bronze immune to damage. Copenhagen’s official visitor guide records repeated acts of vandalism: the statue has lost its head twice, had an arm sawn off and been painted over. It was restored after these incidents and returned to its harbour setting. The episodes are part of the monument’s modern history, but they should not eclipse its original context: a privately commissioned work donated for public display and tied to Denmark’s literary heritage.

Langelinie is part of the experience

The statue makes more sense when seen within the waterfront around it. Langelinie began as an outer defensive line east of Kastellet in the seventeenth century. In the nineteenth century, people used the shore as a walking route. The creation of Copenhagen’s Free Port in the 1890s interrupted that route; the city later provided a raised public promenade along the quay and opened the area for recreation. The harbour landscape is therefore not a neutral backdrop: it reflects the city’s changing relationship with shipping, defence and public access to the water.

The promenade includes other monuments connected with seafaring and Danish history, among them the Maritime Monument to sailors who died in the First World War and a memorial to naval officer Iver Huitfeldt. The municipal heritage plan identifies the Little Mermaid as the area’s most visited statue, while also treating the promenade, park, marina and historic structures as a wider cultural environment. Continuing the walk toward the Gefion Fountain or Kastellet turns a quick photograph stop into a more complete look at this harbour district.

Planning a visit

The official visitor listing gives the location as Langelinie, 2100 København Ø, and says it is about a 15-minute walk from Østerport Station, which is served by metro and S-trains. Follow current pedestrian signs from the station toward the waterfront; the walk is outdoors and exposed to wind and changing weather. Copenhagen’s tourism authority also notes that the statue can be viewed from a harbour tour, offering a different angle without replacing the walk along the quay.

The sculpture is displayed in the open air on the promenade, not inside a ticketed museum. The official visitor page does not list fixed opening hours or a timed-entry system, so there is no museum schedule to book around; access can still be affected by temporary works or harbour operations. The page likewise does not set out a separate admission price. Check local notices before travelling, especially if visiting during a large waterfront event, and allow time for the walk rather than treating the statue as a drive-up attraction.

Expect a compact monument, not a vast statue towering above the harbour. That contrast between its scale and its international reputation is part of the encounter. Arrive with the Andersen story in mind, notice how the figure faces the water, then continue along Langelinie to see the promenade’s other layers. The result is a more revealing Copenhagen visit: one that connects a familiar image to a real sculptor, a documented commission and a working urban waterfront.