The Many Statues of Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a very attractive city, not least of which because of its ample ornamentation. There are statues and fountains everywhere that depict everything from fictional characters to national heroes to Greek gods to animals to Bible stars. You'll see below just a small sampling of all the fantastic statuary in the city. (Apparently Laura and I weren't the only ones to notice this feature of Copenhagen - check out a more complete Copenhagen statue gallery on Wikipedia.)

There is a star among the many statues in Copenhagen, though. Perched atop a rock in Copenhagen harbor outside the park Langelinie sits the famous bronze depiction of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid.

Hans Christian Andersen was Danish, and the fairy tale was published in 1837, but it was not until the story attracted the interest of Carl Jacobsen (of Carlsberg Brewery fame) that the statue was commissioned. It was completed in 1913 by Edvard Eriksen. It's a nice piece of artwork, though you might be surprised that the statue is very small - just over 4 ft.

After nearly 100 years of sitting atop that rock, I guess the Little Mermaid is getting bored - she's on her way to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai soon.