A huge fire on Tuesday tore through Copenhagen’s 17th-century former stock exchange, toppling the historic building’s landmark spire in front of horrified and emotional witnesses.
Amid flames and black smoke, the 54-metre (180-foot) spire crashed into the street below the Børsen building, which had been undergoing renovation.
“This is our Notre Dame! This is a national treasure,” 45-year-old local resident Elisabeth Moltke told AFP as she watched the blaze.
Other witnesses watched in tears as more than a hundred firefighters battled to save the building.
“It pains us all to see Børsen in the middle of Copenhagen in flames. It is a shared cultural heritage”, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told public broadcaster DR.
Frederiksen lamented the “many, many hundreds of years of history going up in flames.”
Denmark’s King Frederik X said in a statement that the country had woken up to “a sad sight.”
“An important part of our architectural heritage was and still is in flames,” the king said.
The fire started at around 7:30 a.m. local time under the red brick building’s copper roof, emergency services told reporters.
As flames and huge plumes of black smoke billowed from the rooftop, fire trucks surrounded the building, covered in scaffolding and canvas, which today houses the Danish Chamber of Commerce.
The landmark spire that fell was known for its distinctive design, being made up of the intertwined tails of four dragons—which were meant to protect the building from both enemies and fire, according to the Danish Chamber of Commerce.
Danish rescue services said that they could not give “any guarantees” that the facade of the building could be saved.
“The facades are still standing, but they are starting to give way as the construction burns away,” director of emergency services Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters.
The Børsen building, close to the Christiansborg parliament and seat of government, was commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1619 and 1640. It is one of Copenhagen’s oldest and best-known landmarks. Housing a vast art collection, it was being renovated to celebrate its 400th anniversary.
Images from the scene showed several people carrying works of art, and forces from the Danish military were also called to the scene to try to evacuate artworks.
“We are currently working hard to save our historical art from Børsen,” the Chamber of Commerce said in a post to X.
The fire called to mind the disaster at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was gutted by a fire almost five years ago to the day. Its spire was also destroyed in the flames.
Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said in a post on X, that he had been moved to see employees, rescue workers and residents trying to “rescue art treasures and iconic paintings from the burning building. … I will do everything I can so that the dragon spire will once again tower over Copenhagen.”
“I have just been inside the Stock Exchange and seen the damage. Half of it is destroyed, and it pains me that cultural heritage has been lost. Every morning when I entered Børsen, I could feel the history in the building, so it is completely unreal to see our workplace now,” said Administrative Director Brian Mikkelsen of the Danish Chamber of Commerce.
