Jón Gnarr, who is in his final days as mayor of Reykjavík, this week formally received the new statue of a mermaid in Hljómskálagarður park, near City Hall, on the other side of the Tjörnin pond.
The statue is a gift to the City of Reykjavík from the Smáralind shopping center – which is itself in neighboring Kópavogur. She will now live in the pond.
The mermaid is by Nína Sæmundsson and will be part of the new statue garden in the park, to celebrate the foremothers of Icelandic sculpture, Vísir.is reports.
An identical statue by the sculptor stood in the pond about 55 years ago – from August 1959 until New Year’s Day 1960, when it was blown up.
The mermaid is cast in bronze using the artist’s original mould from 1948.
The statue is built on the folk story of the mermaid who sat on a rock in the sea and attracted sailors with her song, only for them to disappear forever into the depths in her arms.
