The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen will be 95 years of age on the 23 August 2008. The statue, by the Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen, was presented to the city by the Carlsberg Brewery on August 23 1913. The tragic heroine of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale gazes wistfully in search of her Prince. a tale of enduring but doomed love.

© olgite

In 2003 a new ritual was initiated when a boat load of 90 young girls dived into the water and formed the number 90 behind the statue. The 94th birthday celebrations in 2007 were somewhat marred by an influx of anarchist protesters wearing shark fins, who decided this was an ideal photo opportunity to display their displeasure at demolition of the Youth House earlier that year. Let's hope that this years birthday celebrations will only feature one fin, that of the little mermaid.

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