Owner says Denmark's treasured stock exchange will be rebuilt after fire

Firefighters work on putting out the still-smouldering blaze at the Boersen, Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange in Denmark, April 17, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Liselotte Sabroe via REUTERS

By Isabelle Yr Carlsson and Louise Rasmussen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Denmark’s Old Stock Exchange will be rebuilt after a devastating fire destroyed half the building and damaged much of the rest, the owner of the Copenhagen landmark said on Wednesday.

The blaze ripped through the 400-year-old structure on Tuesday, toppling its spire and also triggering the collapse of a large roof section, in scenes reminiscent of the 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Firefighters work on putting out the still-smouldering blaze at the Boersen, Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange in Denmark, April 17, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Liselotte Sabroe via REUTERS

In parts of the building only outer brick walls remained as everything else had burnt up, while some of the sections still standing had floors that were waterlogged from efforts to put out the fire, according to reporters briefly allowed inside.

View from the tower of the Parliament as emergency crews are still working on the fire at Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange, the Boersen, in Denmark, April 17, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Liselotte Sabroe via REUTERS

A strong smell of burnt wood filled the air, and long tubes of bright-white led-lights were laid out in the remaining dry sections as workers entered to remove office furniture that survived the fire.

Among the parts lost in the blaze was the large hall which in the 17th century had housed the stalls of commodities traders, said the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which owns the building.

A view of rising smoke at the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, after a fire broke out in the morning, in Copenhagen, Denmark April 16, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little

As the flaming spire slammed into the ground, its ornamented metal tip that had sat 52 metres (179 feet) above street level of the Dutch Renaissance-style building was recovered and will eventually resume its rightful place, the Chamber said.

An Emergency management worker works following the fire in the building of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark April 17, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS

“At six o’clock this morning I met a fireman who gave me this… the top of the stock exchange,” Chamber CEO Brian Mikkelsen told Reuters, holding the metal piece in the air.

“It gives me hope because we have decided to rebuild the stock exchange because it’s part of European history as a trading continent,” he said.

Mikkelsen declined to comment on the building’s insurance policy. The building no longer houses the stock exchange but serves as the Chamber of Commerce headquarters.

A bouquet of sunflowers had been laid in front of the building, which had been undergoing extensive restoration when the fire broke out.

An Emergency management worker works following the fire in the building of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark April 17, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS

Police investigating the incident said it could take months to determine the cause. No one was hurt in the blaze.

‘ICONIC’

The loss of the 17th century landmark was a sad moment for the capital, teacher Eva Simoni Lomholdt, 58, told Reuters.

“My first thought was I hope that they rebuild it, it’s never going to be the same but it’s iconic to Copenhagen and Denmark.”

Emergency services were joined by passers-by on Tuesday in carrying paintings away from the building shortly after the fire broke out in a race to save historic artefacts from the flames.

“When the building was on fire yesterday we were saving almost all of the valuables in there. Things that were 300-400 years old and part of our national heritage,” the chamber’s Mikkelsen said.

Employees and firefighters knew what to get out as they already had a “worst case” emergency plan in place, he said.

While the fire was largely out, efforts to quell any remaining embers would continue at least until Thursday morning.

Large containers were being stacked to support damaged walls and prevent the historic brickwork from collapsing.

“Right now we’re really just trying to stabilise the building so it doesn’t collapse,” Copenhagen fire department incident manager Tim Ole Simonsen told reporters.

(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen, Stine Jacobsen, Isabelle Yr Carlsson and Alison Withers, editing by Terje Solsvik, Angus MacSwan and Gareth Jones)