Karin Mennen created the Minsen Seewief sculpture and monument in 1992, to preserve and commemorate a cautionary legend from the 16th century in northern Germany.

According to legend a mermaid was trapped by fishermen.  She pleaded to be released, but they refused. Eventually she escaped, and then in revenge she destroyed the area – the town of Minsen and the larger Wangerland area – with severe storms and floods, in the years 1164, 1362, 1717 and 1962. 

This is no neglected tale. The present-day Wangerland coat of arms shows the mermaid with a finger raised in warning. And of course this also now acts as a tourist draw to the Minsen area.

You will find more information and photos on the Minsen Mermaid page.

The Little Mermaid of L’Île-Rousse is also known as the Marinella Mermaid and Sirène de L’Île-Rousse. She sits on a rock just off the Promenade de la Marinella in L’Île-Rousse, on the north coast of the French island of Corsica. She was created in bronze by sculptor Gabriel Diana, and is positioned at one end of the natural harbor.

Gabriel is a well known artist and sculptor with a wide variety of art works. Gabriel created another mermaid sculpture in the town of Bastia, near the harbor there.

Corsica has an astounding amount of history going back millennia. From the Stone Age at least, and forward in time Corsica was occupied by the Carthaginians, colonized by the ancient Greeks, and then occupied by the Etruscans. And then after becoming part of the Roman Republic and all that history, Corsica was the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Follow this link for more information and photos of the Marinella Mermaid.

The Jalakanyaka mermaid can be found sunbathing at Shankumugham Beach in Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala. Famous artist Kanayi Kunhiraman created the sculpture in concrete. It is 87’ (26m) long and 25′ tall, and is the largest mermaid sculpture on Earth.

The Shankumugham Beach in Thiruvananthapuram is very close to the Trivandrum International Airport, and the Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force. This proximity has lead to a controversy in the last few years after the Air Force and the state tourism department installed a military helicopter near the mermaid sculpture.

The contrast is quite jarring, and the helicopter in the background of photos of the mermaid tend to ruin the shots. The uproar from art lovers and others who appreciated the park without a chopper in it have resulted in news coverage like this and this, expressing the sentiment that placing a military machine in a park dedicated to nature preservation and next to something as sensual and aesthetic as a mermaid sculpture is very inappropriate and insensitive.

The theme or story for the sculpture, according to the artist: The pollution of the sea eventually drove the mermaid to leave the ocean and come ashore to live on land instead. However, upon reaching the land, she found the land equally polluted. So what we see in the sculpture is the melancholy mermaid sharing her sorrow with the sun.

There is a trend of mermaids battling pollution of the seas. Artists, mermaid performers and ocean preservation activists have embraced this trend for decades now.

You will find many more photos of this sculpture on the page dedicated to the mermaid in Thiruvananthapuram.

The William Bloye Mermaid at the University of Birmingham can be seen all over the university campus. She is part of the university crest, which in turn comes from the coat of arms designed for himself by Sir Josiah Mason, the self-made millionaire who founded the university.

In 1960, the University added the William Bloye Mermaid Fountain to the campus grounds, further cementing her status as the icon of the University of Birmingham. The location is the courtyard of the University of Birmingham Guild of Students building.

The university had commissioned the sculpture from William Bloye. He created it in bronze in 1960. Bloye was active in Birmingham as a sculptor since 1919. He was very involved in art across the city and created or contributed directly to more than 50 artworks, fountains, sculptures, bas-reliefs, emblems and statues during his career.

While the mermaid on the University crest and most other depictions of the mermaid show her holding a comb and a mirror, Bloye created the mermaid for the fountain in a pose with uplifted welcoming arms, and a single powerful tail lifting her out of the water.

See more information and images on the page dedicated to the University of Birmingham Mermaid.

The Mermaid of the North sits on a rock near Balintore, Scotland. At high tide she is half submerged, and at low tide (up to 14′ lower than high tide) she is clearly dry on her rock.  The rock itself has been named ‘Clach Dubh’, meaning ‘black rock’ in Gaelic.

Steve Hayward created the 10’ bronzed wood mermaid sculpture in 2007.

She is part of the area’s Seaboard Sculpture Trail, which includes several other sculptures related to the sea, such as giant salmon.

Being so exposed to the elements, the original bronzed wood sculpture was damaged in 2012 by a severe storm. An identical permanent bronze cast statue replaced the damaged original in 2014.  She brings significant tourist business to the community, so the community raised the funds for the bronze replacement.

You can see some other great photos of the Mermaid of the North and learn more on this page for Steve Hayward’s mermaid.

The city of Warsaw in Poland has for five centuries had a protector – the mermaid Syrenka. The mermaid is found everywhere in Warsaw – on the Warsaw Coat of Arms, on official buildings and vehicles, and in at least 3 prominent locations as a sculpture of the mermaid with her sword and her shield. She is very much a beloved icon of the city.

This sculpture is the oldest – located in Warsaw’s Old Town Market Square since 1855, created in bronze by Konstanty Hegel. The legend has it that this mermaid is a sister of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, but that she swam up the Vistula River long ago, to where Warsaw is now. See the separate page for this sculpture here, with more information and photos.

Jana Woydygi created the sculpture of the Syrenka at Markiewicza Bridge in 1905. She has the sword and shield as well, to protect the city when needed. The legend tells how the people of the city saved the mermaid long ago, and in gratitude she swore to always defend the city. I created a separate page for this sculpture here, with more information and photos.

Ludwika Nitschowa created this version of the Syrenka by the Swietokrzyski Bridge in 1939. It is about 25 feet tall. The face of the statue was modeled by Krystyna Krahelska, a polish poet and soldier who later took part in the 1944 uprising against the Germans. So in a very real sense this sculpture represents both the mythical mermaid protector and the actual war hero Krystyna Krahelska.

The Germans were by all accounts unaware of the mermaid’s status as protector of the city, and all three sculptures survived the war.

There is a separate page for this sculpture here, with more information and photos.