Melusina – Mermaid of Luxembourg

Last year Luxembourg city got   its very own beautiful   mermaid statue, on the shore of the Alzette river across the Neumunster abbey. The word mermaid sound so very magical and mystical, often read in fairytales. Melusina’s story is one of the several spooky tales of Luxembourg.

I will summarize the story here. Melusina is believed to be the wife of Siegfried, the first count of Luxembourg .Count Siegfried was mesmerised by her beauty, and she agreed to marry him on precondition that she wanted private Saturdays. “Curiosity kills the cat”, the old adage is so very true. Years went by, once Siegfried   peeped into her room on a Saturday and   found the mermaid, Melusina with a fish tail instead of legs. Melusina came to know about it and vanished never to return again. It is said Melusina’s spirit lives   in the valley and she visits Alzette once every seven years. Maybe now to admire her own statue, she may come more often.

Nothing frightening, but I’ll advise all of you must visit the mermaid statue in the grund. It is a 3-D printed sculpture with mauve ceramic tiles coating. In developing country we just watch on television or read in newspaper/magazines about the latest inventions and innovations, but here in developed nations we see the actual implementation and usage of the latest technology which is quite inspiring and admirable.

So now Luxembourg can also boast of its own mermaid, the Melusina. Copenhagen has its own little mermaid, which is a famous tourist attraction. If I need to compare the two, then it is suffice to say the little mermaid of Copenhagen is sculpture in true sense; while Melusina appears to be more geometric in shape than artistic. But in modern times, with technical innovations it gels well with the surroundings. Luxembourg is a modern city ahead of times.