Guest Writer: Elizabeth Tyrrell

As tour guides constantly remind us, the Little Mermaid, memorial to Hans Christian Andersen and symbol of Denmark’s capital, is indeed little (being less than 5 ft tall).

Moreover, she is not actually in Copenhagen at present*.

After almost a century on her rock on Langeline pier, she has temporarily abandoned her home for Shanghai and, after hearing tales of past desecration, (decapitations, amputations and paint splattering among them) who could blame her?

At present, all that stands on her famous rock is a video link to Shanghai’s world exhibition Expo which beams grainy images across the water of the lady herself, sitting proudly in the Danish pavilion as her admirers file past.

Her admirers, it should be pointed out, continue to file past in Copenhagen, collecting to gaze upon the place where she should be reclining.

In an area behind the waterfront are a collection of modern statues, with fluid lines and bulbous protuberances.Here is the Little Mermaid’s modern day sister…

To read the full story by Liz about The Little Mermaid, please click here.