The old Copenhagen Stock Exchange was the victim of a violent fire on Tuesday. The spire of the monument collapsed in the flames as the Danes watched helplessly. An event reminiscent of that of Notre-Dame in Paris, five years earlier.
400 years old, the Copenhagen Stock Exchange was the victim of a violent fire this Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Its famous 54 meter high spire collapsed. The fire broke out under the roof around 7:30 a.m., emergency services told the press. “One of Copenhagen’s iconic monuments is engulfed in flames,” reports the Copenhagen Post.
These terrible images recall the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris five years ago. “400 years of Danish cultural heritage in flames” says the Danish Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt. “It’s our Notre-Dame, it’s our national treasure,” a 45-year-old local resident told AFP this morning, disillusioned.
Today, the building houses the Danish Chamber of Commerce. All people present inside were able to be evacuated. However, given that the roof is made of copper, “it is simply impossible to penetrate” currently, says the Ritzau agency, the director of rescue services Jakob Vadsted Andersen, as reported by BFMTV. “The fire therefore had plenty of time to intensify and spread throughout the building,” he continues.
“We are facing a terrible spectacle” reacted the Danish Chamber of Commerce Dansk Erherv. “The Stock Exchange is on fire. Everyone is asked to stay away from the area around Slotsholmen. Firefighters are on site.” The Copenhagen Stock Exchange was built between 1619 and 1640 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city. It had been under construction for several weeks.