A statue of a mermaid in Dragør Fort, Copenhagen, which has recently faced criticised for its sexualised depiction of the female form, must be removed, a Danish government agency has confirmed.
The 13-foot tall Big Mermaid stone statue was initially located near the famous Little Mermaid sculpture in the city centre. However, it was relocated to the Dragør Fort south of the city in 2018, where it has continued to draw criticism.
Recently the critic Sorine Gotfredsen wrote in the Danish newspaper Berlingske: “Erecting a statue of a man’s hot dream of what a woman should look like is unlikely to promote many women’s acceptance of their own bodies.” Meanwhile Politiken’s art critic, Mathias Kryger, described the statue as “ugly and pornographic”.
The Dragør Fort is a protected monument and therefore subject to permanent protection under the Danish Museum Act. The Agency for Culture and Palaces, which is part of the Danish Ministry of Culture, monitors the site and assesses whether alterations are compatible with the preservation of the cultural heritage.
The agency said in a statement: “In this context, the agency determined that alterations had been made to Dragør Fort, including the installation of a large mermaid sculpture, without prior permission. The agency has assessed that the sculpture must be removed from Dragør Fort, as it disrupts the fortification’s military structure and constitutes an element that is unfamiliar to the site.”
The owner must now ensure that the sculpture is removed, the agency adds, although it is currently unclear who owns the piece.
Meanwhile Peter Bech, the Danish entrepreneur who commissioned the work, told The Guardian that he does not understand the criticisms, saying that the figure’s breasts are “of a proportional size” to its scale. Bech could not be contacted for comment.
