FROM WARSAW TO COPENHAGEN
OR FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MERMAIDS

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

In the underwater kingdom of the Baltic Sea,
two mermaids (sisters) followed two different destinies:

the first one went to Warsaw,
the Capital City of Poland, on the Wisla River,

while the second one went to Copenhagen,
the Capital City of Denmark.

*

I arrived in Warsaw in 2015 July 15
to see Syrenka Warszawska, the main symbol,
who, impressed by the love of a fisherman in the Middle Ages,
decided to become the protector of the city.

Syrenka Warszawska has more artistic representations,
but I stopped to see only the most famous of them,
the statue from the center of the Old Town,
which was erected by the sculptor Konstanty Hegel in 1855.

Surprisingly, a little later,
I saw Syrenka Warszawska again!

This time she was metamorphosed into a beautiful woman
watching the sunset on the Baltic Sea.

*

I arrived in Copenhagen in 2015 July 21
to see the Little Mermaid, the symbol of the city,
who became famous thanks to a moving novel
which the Danish national writer, Hans Christian Andersen,
published in 1837.

Pushed by her love for a prince,
the Little Mermaid preferred the self-sacrifice to save him.

The statue of the Little Mermaid was erected in 1913
by the philanthropist Carl Jacobsen and the sculptor Edvard Eriksen.

Surprisingly, a little later
I saw the Little Mermaid again, too.

She was also metamorphosed into a beautiful woman,
admired by the Sun
in a park at the edge of Copenhagen.

*

Obviously, I could not leave the Baltic Sea
without the following document
from the Sovereign of the Solar System:

DECLARATION FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MERMAIDS

Dear Baltic Mermaids:
In the name of my subjects, I’m sorry it is too late for justice.
Both of you fully deserve to be written in the sky as constellations,
but the places are occupied by other beings
through a decision of the International Astronomical Union since 1922.
In these conditions,
you will remain forever as constellations in our souls.
-The Sun, 2015 July-

FROM WARSAW TO COPENHAGEN OR FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MERMAIDS

FROM WARSAW TO COPENHAGEN
OR FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MERMAIDS