The Little Mermaid, Denmark

The Little Mermaid is a bronze statue by Edward Erik-sen depicting a Mermaid. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langeliene promenade in Denmark. It is 1.25 meters (4.1 ft) tall and weights 175 kilograms.

Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen, Denmark icon and has been a major tourist attraction since 1913. In recent decades it has a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists. 

The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Cari Jacabon, son of the founder of , who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairy tale in Copenhagen's Royal and asked the ballerina, ellen Price to model for the statue. The sculptor created the bronze statue, which was unveiled on August 23, 1913 . The statue's head was modeled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor's wife was used for the body.

The Copenhagen City Council arranged to move the statue to Shanghai at the Danish Pavilion for the duration of the Expo 2010, the first time it had been moved officially from its perch since it was installed almost a century earlier. While the statue was away in Shanghai an authorized copy was displayed on a rock in the lake in Copenhagen. Copenhagen officials have considered moving the statue several meters out into the harbor to discourage vandalism and to prevent tourists from climbing onto it, but as of May 2014 the statue remains on dry land at the water side.