A fire in the Copenhagen Stock Exchange building, one of the oldest in the capital of Denmark, has affected its structure and caused its emblematic spire to collapse. “It is our Notre Dame, it is our national treasure,” a city resident, Elisabeth Moltke, 45, told Agence France Presse, visibly moved, as she contemplated the catastrophe. She was referring to the Paris cathedral, which was also engulfed by flames in April 2019.
The roof of the Børsen, built in the 17th century and which was the financial center of Denmark, was engulfed in flames at 7:30 a.m., when the fire broke out under the roof for reasons still unknown, according to reports emergency services. “It is a copper roof and it is simply impossible to penetrate it,” assured the director of emergency services, Jakob Vedsted Andersen, to the Ritzau agency. “So the fire had enough time to intensify and spread throughout the building,” made up of several floors, he explained.
“The facades are still standing, but they are beginning to give way under the effect of the fire,” Andersen declared at midday. “We are doing everything possible to protect the facades, but we cannot give any guarantees,” he added, while informing that it will take a few more hours to control the fire. The good news is that firefighters consider it unlikely that the fire will spread to other buildings or that there will be any injuries.
The Old Stock Exchange building is located next to Christiansborg Palace, which houses parliament, and is a popular tourist attraction. It was being renovated to celebrate its four centuries of existence. Scaffolding around the building made it difficult for emergency services to access the flames, while the copper roof trapped heat.
Huge smoke rose over the city center and people were seen running into the building, which today houses the Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv, in Danish) and also houses a large collection of works of art, to save paintings. . “We are deeply affected. We are working hard to save our historic art from the Stock Exchange,” says Chamber of Commerce director Morgen Langager. Around 90 recruits from the Royal Guard, a Danish army unit, were also sent to the site to try to save the works.
“Terrible images (of) the Stock Exchange this morning. 400 years of Danish cultural heritage in flames,” lamented Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt on social media. “How moving to see how Børsen employees, the good people of the emergency services and the people of Copenhagen are working together to save the artistic treasures and iconic images from the burning building,” he added.
Emergency services sent more than a hundred firefighters to the scene, while police blocked areas of the capital to traffic. The number rises to 200 if we add the police and soldiers deployed at the scene.
Its characteristic spire, designed as if they were the intertwined tails of four dragons, reached 56 meters high. The presence of dragons on the roof was considered a symbolic way of protecting the Stock Exchange from enemies and fire, according to the city’s official guide. “It is a 400-year-old building that survived all the other fires that devastated Copenhagen, it is a terrible loss,” another neighbor, Carsten Rose Lundberg, lamented to AFP.
The Copenhagen Stock Exchange was built by order of King Christian IV between 1619 and 1640, making it one of the oldest buildings in the city. It is a clear example of the Dutch Renaissance style.
