Among the pieces that had been on display in the building was a huge painting completed in 1895 by Danish artist P.S. Krøyer called, From Copenhagen Stock Exchange. No information has been released about which works of art were saved from the blaze, although video footage appeared to show the Krøyer painting being removed.
Brian Mikkelsen, chief of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which is headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange and owns the building, was seen with his staff scrolling through a binder of photos of paintings to be saved. Works were carried to the nearby parliament and national archive building.
Rescuers used crowbars and other tools to remove valuables and save them from the fire, Mikkelsen said.
People react to a fire as the Old Stock Exchange building burns in Copenhagen.Credit: AP
“We have been able to rescue a lot,” a visibly moved Mikkelsen told reporters. “It is a national disaster.”
Jakob Vedsted Andersen, a Greater Copenhagen Fire Department spokesman, said the fire began on the roof and quickly spread, collapsing parts of the roof and destroying about half of the building.
Up to 90 members of an army unit were deployed to cordon off the area and “secure valuables,” Denmark’s armed forces said.
King Frederik wrote on Instagram that “an important part of our architectural heritage” was being destroyed. “This morning we woke up to a sad sight,” he wrote.
The Old Stock Exchange building (left) photographed from across the water in 2022.Credit: AP
The exchange was built in 1615 and is considered a leading example of Dutch Renaissance style in Denmark. The Chamber of Commerce moved into the building after Copenhagen’s stock exchange left in 1974.
The roof, masonry, sandstone and spire were being renovated
The future of the structure was unclear, but Engel-Schmidt, wrote on social platform X that he would do everything he could “so that the dragon spire will once again tower over Copenhagen,” describing it as “a symbol of Denmark’s strong history as a trading nation”.
Mikkelsen said that the board had already decided they would rebuild the Stock Exchange.
The adjacent Christiansborg Palace has burnt down several times, and in 1990 a fire broke out in an annex of the Danish parliament, known as Proviantgaarden but the Old Stock Exchange was unscathed.
The dragon spire on the roof of the Stock Exchange under renovation before the fire.Credit: AP
The fire in Copenhagen was reminiscent of the April 2019 blaze at Notre Dame. The 800-year-old cathedral in Paris also lost its spire. Its restoration is slated for completion this year.
In November 1992, soldiers and workers scrambled to save priceless works of art when Windsor Castle in England was consumed in flames. That fire destroyed the state dining room and other parts of Queen Elizabeth II’s weekend home.
AP