Copenhagen to remove massive 'Little Mermaid' statue for being "ugly and pornographic"

Hans Christian Andersen 's tale, The Little Mermaid , inspired a bronze statue that, since its unveiling in August 1913, has become an unmistakable symbol of Copenhagen and one of the Danish capital's main tourist attractions. Almost a century later, in 2006, sculptor Peter Bech created a new, enormous stone version. His Little Mermaid ( Den Store Havfrue) measures four by six meters and weighs 14 tons. This immense mermaid does not appear seated on a rock, as in the original sculpture, but rather standing with her hands resting on a rock, displaying her rotund, voluminous breasts.

Is it the size of her breasts that has been a problem? Bech, the designer of the piece, argues that they are proportional to the figure's size. But the truth is that, size aside, controversy has dogged the mermaid since her public unveiling in 2006, and now she's once again under scrutiny. The Danish Heritage Conservation Agency has decided to remove her from her current location in a historic maritime fortification.

The newspaper Politiken has called the immense mermaid "ugly and pornographic." And Berlingske 's article notes that "it is doubtful that erecting a statue of a man's fervent dream about what a woman should look like will help women accept their bodies." The sculptor, according to The Guardian , doesn't understand the controversy.

Berlingke's opinion editor, Aminata Corr Thrane, weighed in on the debate by pointing out that the obsession with the statue's breast size bordered on " body shaming " and questioned whether a woman's breasts must be a specific shape and size to be displayed in public. "Perhaps the two statues (the mermaid and the little mermaid) represent two sides of women and the eternal tug-of-war over what a woman really is."

Authorities have announced that the controversial statue will no longer be placed at Dragør Fort. It ended up there in 2018 after being removed from the Langeline harbor where it was originally installed, near the sculpture of the famous Little Mermaid unveiled in 1913. Local residents denounced the new, immense mermaid as "fake and vulgar" and lobbied to have it removed from the original by Edvard Erikesen.

Its new home at Dragør Fort has also been met with dissatisfaction by residents and authorities. In March, the heritage conservation agency announced its decision to remove it. Furthermore, Dragør municipal officials have rejected the artist's donation of the piece, which he intends to keep, even if it isn't in the historic fortification. Dragør's councilor for climate, urban planning, and business has stated that it "is a difficult fit because it takes up a lot of space." Perhaps he's turning Andersen's tale on its head, and this time the immense mermaid will eventually return to the sea.