Warsaw Mermaid, Bronze statue in Old Town Market Square, Warsaw, Poland
The Warsaw Mermaid is a bronze sculpture positioned in the center of Old Town Market Square, armed with a sword and shield for protection. The figure commands attention through its detailed craftsmanship and stands as a focal point where the square's historic buildings form a backdrop.
The zinc Siren, designed by Konstanty Hegel and cast at Karol Juliusz Minter's Warsaw foundry, stood on the Old Town Market Square on 7 August 1855, created for the city's first modern water supply built by Henryk Marconi in 1851–1855. In 1928 the fountain was dismantled and the statue stored; after wartime damage it was restored by the Łopieński brothers, then moved in 1951 to the Central Park of Culture. It returned to the Old Town in 1999, and in May 2008 the original was replaced by a copy and transferred to the Museum of Warsaw.
The figure represents Warsaw's protective spirit and appears throughout the city on flags, emblems, and in local stories passed down through generations. People recognize her as a guardian symbol that connects residents to their city's past and identity.
The statue stands on a granite plinth in a round basin at the centre of the market square, facing the Mermaid's sword toward the north. The original zinc figure is now in the Museum of Warsaw, while the square displays a copy. The square is level and paved, with benches nearby.
The figure on the square is a copy placed in May 2008; the original zinc sculpture by Konstanty Hegel, cast at Karol Juliusz Minter's Warsaw works, is kept at the Museum of Warsaw. The monument was the first to depict the emblem in the city's coat of arms, shaping later images of the Warsaw Mermaid.
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