In Denmark, Copenhagen’s Iconic Stock Exchange Spire Collapses During Blaze
Denmark’s Deputy Prime Minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, called the fire “our own Notre Dame moment.”
The 5th anniversary of the fire that destroyed France’s Notre Dame cathedral and the collapse of its magnificent spire was this Monday.
Now comes news that another iconic European spire has been destroyed in a fire. The structure, which sat atop of Copenhagen’s famous Old Stock Exchange, toppled before the blaze that roared through the building was brought under control.
The fire broke out in the 17th century Dutch Renaissance-style building on Tuesday morning. It was quickly engulfed in flames while thick grey smoke rose above the city in scenes reminiscent of the 2019 blaze at Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral.
There were no reports of casualties.
Video showed the flaming spire breaking in half as it tumbled down, a chunk crashing to the ground next to a fire truck.
Emergency services, employees from the Danish Chamber of Commerce, including its CEO Brian Mikkelsen, and even passers-by were seen carrying paintings away from the building in a race to save historic artefacts from the flames.
Soldiers of the Royal Life Guards helped to cordon off streets and secure valuables.
BREAKING:
Denmark is having its “Notre Dame moment”
The historical Børsen Stock Exchange building in Copenhagen is on fire.
It was built in 1625 and is one of the city’s most beautiful buildings with its elegant spire
Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of the Notre Dame fire pic.twitter.com/8j6bPsHvaD
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 16, 2024
Comparisons to the Notre Dame inferno were on many minds.
Denmark’s Deputy Prime Minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, called the fire “our own Notre Dame moment,” referring to the blaze that destroyed the roof and spire of the Paris cathedral, five years ago almost to the day.
The fire began at around 8.30 a.m. local time (2.30 a.m. ET), a Copenhagen fire department chief told CNN, and by 11 a.m. nearly half of the building had been destroyed. The fire was still burning by late afternoon.
The Chamber of Commerce said it is “at a loss for words for how great a tragedy this is.” It said it was “a sad day for our country” and that “the damage will unfortunately be very expensive.”
As in the case of the Notre Dame cathedral incident, the blaze broke out as the building was undergoing renovations and repairs.
The building and the spire had been encased in scaffolding, which later collapsed in the fire.
The roof, masonry, sandstone and spire of Boersen — built in 1615 and considered a leading example of Dutch Renaissance style in Denmark — was being renovated, said the Chamber of Commerce, which moved into the building after Copenhagen’s stock exchange left in 1974
The adjacent Christiansborg Palace has burned down on several occasions, and most recently in 1990 a fire broke out in an annex of the Danish parliament, known as Proviantgaarden. However, the Old Stock Exchange survived unscathed.
The cause of the blaze is still not known. Initial reports indicate one of the construction workers observed the fire break-out on the roof.
The cause of the fire in Copenhagen is also for the moment unknown but emergency services said the scaffolding made their operation more difficult. Officials said the fire was most intense around the tower.
One of the craftsmen replacing brickwork on the building saw the fire break out on the roof while he was on the scaffolding. Ole Hansen said he shouted to his colleagues they needed to get down and that he left the door unlocked for firemen to get in.
Fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen said firefighters faced an almost impossible task accessing the area under the old copper roof. It was not until Tuesday afternoon that he said the fire had been brought under control, although much of the building was burned out.
“Furniture, floor partitions and everything that could burn has been affected by the fire,” he said.
The spire consisted of the four intertwined dragon tails of topped by three crowns, symbolizing the Scandinavian empire – Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I had a chance to see it with my husband (who is half Danish) and my son in 2015…and it was magnificent.
Picture from last summer of the dragon spire of the old Copenhagen stock exchange that sadly burned today: pic.twitter.com/yqP82Qqzx3
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) April 16, 2024
Hopefully, the Danish will follow the French example…with reconstruction and recreation as an homage to their history and culture.
A fire ripped through Denmark’s old stock exchange building in Copenhagen Tuesday and tore down the 400-year-old structure’s iconic dragon-tail spire https://t.co/d7BTETqLGQ pic.twitter.com/CfajjfU3N5
— Bloomberg (@business) April 16, 2024
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Comments
It can’t be too iconic, I never heard of it. Tall stuff falling over is great video, though.
There is a difference in being a professional troll and being a donkey.
It looks(ed) amazing….just appreciate once in a while.
“Hopefully, the Danish will follow the French example…with reconstruction and recreation as an homage to their history and culture.”
True, its a terrible shame to see such a wonderful building in this state
Maybe they can raze the entire building and replace it with a brutalist concrete structure to house immigrants.
That’s called self build
They wanted to make Norte Dame woke if I remember, “all religions”, Ie Muslim, pool , BS
They were seriously considering replacing the spire with an Islamic minaret made out of glass and steel. What could the Catholic Church do to stop it? Absolutely nothing.
France is a weird place that treats religion in a way that is so foreign to Americans, it’s not believable for many. For instance, Notre Dame Cathedral is not owned by the Catholic Church…anymore Like all churches in France constructed before the 20th century, it’s owned by the French Government. The Church lost ownership of its own buildings during the French Revolution (true populist revolution is often dangerous for organized religion). Napoleon allowed services to be held again in churches. But, the government retained ownership. Now, pre-20th century churches are allowed to hold services in buildings that their congregants built centuries ago only by leave of the French Government. The government owns everything in that church, including any Catholic relics that remain.
It’s not that uncommon for very old buildings to become controlled by the government, at the very least, with landmark preservation acts and what not.
This is exactly why statues can be torn down (or “stored”) by wokes in political office in different cities.
I vaguely recall some discussion about this. It was in part triggered by a book Diana Darke about the origins of Western gothic architecture being derived from Muslim architecture.
The ins and outs I forget though tbh
Muslims love them anniversary’s and Western symbols, like the Twin towers, took a few tries, but got it right
Dutch, not Danes. This was in the Netherlands, not Denmark…
Er. scratch that. Not sure why I thought Netherlands until I re-read the story.
No worries
Q. Who immediately comes to mind?
A. Muslims
Beat to it. No doubt there are Islamists working construction in Denmark. Make a list; check it twice. There’s your arsonist.
Well, now. That didn’t take long.
But it’s true, bet your beard on it
Yes, if it’s arson, Muslims are prime candidate #1. But, Eco-Warrior is a close second only because of the economic nature of the building.
As opposed to the obvious culprit which is the contractor making a mistake 🤔
Or, one of the communist unions.
🤦♂️
I said, ‘Yes, if it’s arson.’
Arson is, definitionally, not a mistake.
Appreciate the qualifier, still not really the case that you can come to said judgement. Nothing about the fire fits the MO. Its just pure conjecture.
My first thought was “Cultural Enrichment?”
Precisely. Why? Not merely because of previous arson attacks by them, but specifically the nature of both targets: spires. Recall that under Islamic law no infidel structure can be as tall as an Islamic one, and existing such structures must be torn down. There is a specifically Islamic symbology in attacking such infidel structures. It’s why the World Trade Center was destroyed, when they could instead have killed far more people crashing those planes into a dense residential area.
maybe deep purple can write a song on this
or swift can give it a try
I have to say, this is the third fire of this type I know of that involved maintenance to an old copper roof.
Apparently, the soldering process that they use to repair voids seems to be particularly dangerous, compared to the effectiveness of the safety protocols in use to prevent fires. Buildings with structural (as opposed to decorative) copper sheathing tend to fall into the age class where their other structure is “matchstick dry.” If the heat (sparks, flame, whatever) get through the crack in the metal sheeting and ignite the antique combustibles underneath, all you can do is run away.
The church DW and I were married in, a massive 1906 granite domestic “Notre Dame,” was lost the same way in 1982.
Interesting article thanks
Coincidence? I think not.
Construction fires are common. Probably the most common kind of commercial building fire.
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