COPENHAGEN — Denmark’s famed Little Mermaid statue left her perch in the Copenhagen harbor Thursday and started a journey to the World Expo in Shanghai — the first trip abroad in her 96-year history.
The 5-foot landmark, which honors the memory of Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, was lifted by a crane and lowered onto the back of a truck during a ceremony in the Danish capital.
The exact travel itinerary is being kept secret for security reasons, but the statue is scheduled to be placed as the centerpiece of the Danish pavilion about a week before the World Expo opens May 1.
The temporary move is controversial in Denmark, where some considered it disrespectful to ship a cultural treasure as a public-relations tool. Critics suggested the government should have sent a copy to China — an idea dismissed by Christopher Bo Bramsen, Danish commissioner for Expo 2010.
“Why send a copy when you can send the real thing?” he told The Associated Press.
Bramsen joined Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen and officials from the Danish government and the Chinese Embassy at the ceremony. Hundreds of people watched as a large crane hoisted the statue about 10 feet and slowly moved it over to the truck. The mermaid and the rock she rests on had been cut loose from the boulders beneath them a day earlier.
Created by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen, the fishtailed bronze is Denmark’s most popular tourist attraction. She was unveiled in the Copenhagen harbor in August 1913 and has not been moved since, except to undergo repairs after a series of attacks by vandals.
