From the Warsaw Voice: According to legend, two mermaid sisters swam from the Atlantic Ocean into the Baltic Sea. To this day, one of them-apparently the smaller of the two-sits on a rock at the entrance to the port in Copenhagen. The other swam all the way to Gdańsk and then up the Vistula River. At the foot of today's Old Town in Warsaw, she came out of the water to rest. A rich merchant tricked and captured her. Varsovians defended the prisoner and in return the mermaid told them they could count on her help. This is why the Warsaw Mermaid is armed with a sword and a shield, in order to defend the city. So much for the legend. It remains a mystery how the mermaid became the emblem of Warsaw, but she is present in the oldest images, dating back to the mid-14th century. Initially, she resembled a monster with dragon-like features and bird's legs and wings. In time, she was transformed into a beautiful woman, as portrayed by Konstanty Heger in a statue that was placed on the Old Town Square in 1855. The most well-known Mermaid is a monument designed in 1938 by sculptress Ludwika Krasowska-Nitschowa. It stands on Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie by the Vistula. The model for the Mermaid's face was the young poet Krystyna Krahelska, who later died on the first day of the Warsaw Uprising.
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