Copenhagen fire: Inferno hits historic stock exchange, toppling iconic spire – National

As flames engulfed Denmark‘s historic old stock exchange building in Copenhagen on Tuesday morning, gawking citizens witnessed the inferno grow large enough to topple the building’s iconic spire.

Other Danes launched into action alongside emergency responders to try and save the many historic artworks housed inside the 17th century stock exchange (called the Børsen), one of the city’s oldest buildings.

Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said on X (formerly Twitter) it was “touching” to see how many people lent a hand “to save art treasures and iconic images from the burning building.”

Regardless, Engel-Schmidt said 400 years of Danish cultural heritage went up in flames.

Though there were people inside the old stock exchange at the time of the fire, everyone was evacuated, and no injuries have been reported.

Copenhagen fire department head Jakob Vedsted Andersen said it is too early to determine the cause of the blaze, which began around 7:30 a.m. local time.

He told reporters the fire started in the building’s copper roof, then spread to several floors.

“The facades are still standing, but they are starting to give way as the construction burns away,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “We are trying everything we can to protect the facades, but we cannot give any guarantees.”

The old stock exchange was under renovation at the time of the fire and was surrounded by scaffolding, complicating the rescue mission. Andersen said the copper roof also made extinguishing the flames difficult, as it maintained heat.

He said that there was no risk of the blaze spreading to other buildings. Firefighters are expected to be working at the scene for at least the next 24 hours.

Huge billows of smoke rose over downtown Copenhagen and could be seen from southern Sweden, which is separated by a narrow waterway.

Saving historic artwork

Alongside other eager-to-help Danes, Denmark’s National Museum in Copenhagen posted on X that it sent 25 employees to aid in evacuating the art inside the old stock exchange.

The museum said it was able to specifically save a large artwork by Danish painter Peder Severin Krøyer, and it was brought to a warehouse for safekeeping.

Brian Mikkelsen, the chief of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, told reporters they were able to rescue a large portion of the artwork. He called the fire “a national disaster.”

The iconic dragon spire

Denmark’s King Frederik X called the blaze “a sad sight.”

In a Dutch statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday morning, the king wrote, “An important part of our architectural heritage was and still is in flames.”

“For generations, the characteristic dragon spire has helped to define Copenhagen as the ‘city of towers,’” he mourned.

The 56-metre-tall spire atop the old stock exchange — once a landmark on Copenhagen’s skyline — was designed with four intertwined dragon tails. At the spire’s tip, the dragon tails formed a spear and three crowns, representing Denmark and its close allies, Norway and Sweden.

Culture Minister Engel-Schmidt said he will do “everything I can” to reinstate the dragon spire to its towering point over Copenhagen.

The Børsen dates back to 1625 and served as the stock exchange until the 1970s. Today, it is the headquarters of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, and is situated near Denmark’s parliament (called the Folketing).

The fire at the old stock exchange has been likened to 2019’s blaze at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in France. The building was also under renovation at the time of the fire, which investigators believed started from either an unextinguished cigarette butt or an electrical short circuit.

— With files from the Associated Press

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