‘Liden Gunver’ in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Little Mermaid statue inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen tale is well known in the streets of Copenhagen, but it is not the city’s only merfolk-related monument.

Wander around the gardens of Rosenborg Castle and you may stumble across a somber bronze statue of a girl called Liden Gunver or “Little Gunver.” It is the title of a song written by Johannes Ewald and Johann Hartmann for their 1780 musical The Fishermen.

In the play, the titular fishermen sing about the tragic fate of poor little Gunver, a girl who fell in love with a deceitful merman and was lured into the depths of the sea. In 1899, it was commemorated with a statue by well-known sculptor Theobald Stein. In 1909, a bronze cast was made and installed in the castle garden, where it still stands today. 


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