Little Mermaid, no little concern

Poor little Little Mermaid - the iconic bronze statue sculpted by Edvard Eriksen, and that has been sitting, looking forlorn at the waterside promenade in Copenhagen since 1913. As if Hans Christian Andersen did not infuse this forlorn lover with enough sadness, now it is subject to yet another act of vandalism - this time, the colours of the Russian flag painted on the boulder she sits upon. This is not the first time since the mermaid - actually, ex-mermaid, since she sits there with folded human limbs as part of a Faustian deal - has been tampered with. Her head was stolen in 1964, one of her arms cut off in 1984. She was decapitated again in 1998, but this time her head was thoughtfully returned. But compared to the worst cut of them all - when the statue was knocked off its base with explosives and the mermaid's wrist and knee were blasted by the shrapnel - this time's flag-paint is thankfully tame.

But the Little Mermaid's tribulations point to a not-so-little concern regarding public statues, especially those that one hardly suspects to be targets of philistines. Should they be protected by a barrier - and kill their viewing beauty? Or should they be replaced by replicas, making people somehow feel a bit secure that the real sculptures are safe? But, then, it's tough to place a replica of, say, Qutub Minar without people noticing.