The Little Mermaid Statue. Rather a small statue of Mermaid has become one of the most frequently photographed women in the world. Edward Eriksen created it by request of Carl Jacobsen, the founder of Carlsberg beer houses. 'The Mermaid' is a fairy-tale that was created by Hans Christian Andersen. The main heroine saves a prince, when his ship suffers a shipwreck. To have an opportunity to marry him, she has to sacrifice her beautiful hair and her fish tail. In 1909 Carl Jacobsen saw the ballet adaptation of this fairy-tale by the Danish Royal Ballet, and he was under such a strong impression that he decided to present a statue to the city. In 1913 the Little Mermaid was placed, and soon it became the symbol of Copenhagen.
Eriksen's wife, prima ballerina Ellen Price, was the model of the statue. The face of the Mermaid looks much like hers. By the way, unknown vandals beheaded the Mermaid several times, so the current head is not the original. In the 60s the Mermaid regularly became the centre of different protest actions, it was even desecrated many times. Those times have passed, but, nevertheless, even nowadays colourful graffiti appears on it from time to time. The bronze statue is one of the most popular sights of Copenhagen, so in the daytime it's very difficult to make a good photo of her without numerous tourists on the background. Sunrise is the best time for photographing the Mermaid. There are almost no people in the streets of the city on this early hour.
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