Historical artworks rescued from Copenhagen stock exchange after fire (2024)

Historical paintings were carried out of the burning Copenhagen stock exchange last night in a bid to protect the priceless artworks after the building went up in flames.

The 17th-century building was ravaged by flames as horrified onlookers watched the iconic 180ft spire collapse and grey plumes of smoke fill the sky.

But also housed within the stock exchange building - one of Copenhagen's oldest and a major tourist attraction - was a stash of cultural heritage that firefighters and passers-by were desperate to rescue.

'How touching it is to see how the employees at Børsen, good people from the emergency services and passers-by work together to rescue art treasures and iconic images from the burning building,' said Denmark's culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Local museum inspectorBenjamin Asmussen told Denmark’s TV2 that the building was full of historically significant Danish works dating as far back as the 1600s.

Among the rescued canvases was one by Peder Severin Krøyer, also known as PS Krøyer, showing 50 important Danish businessmen inside the building itself.

Following the rescue mission, the works have been transferred to the parliament building and the Danish National Archives for safekeeping.

Earlier today, 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.

'We have tried to rescue a lot of historic paintings that were inside the building and the historic furniture,' Jakob Vedsted Andersen, an executive director at the Greater Copenhagen fire and rescue service, toldCNN.

The fire began Tuesday morning in the copper roof of the Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, spread to much of the building and the roof, parts of which also collapsed, and destroyed the building's interior.

'The fire is still not under control,' Andersen said later this morning, adding that half the building was destroyed and collapsed.

He said that there was no risk of the blaze spreading to other buildings. Firefighters said they expect to be at the scene for the next 24 hours.

'This is crazy, I've never seen such a big fire in my life. The fire has grown, more and more serious, it seems to be spreading to a larger part of the building,' a reporter for local outlet Politikensaidfrom the scene.

'This is our Notre Dame, it is our national treasure,' reiterated Elisabeth Moltke, a 45-year-old Copenhagen resident, who watched the blaze.

Others could not hold back tears as they watched the devastation.

Peter Hummelgaard, Justice Minister, applauded the efforts of emergency services in working to 'save human life and our historical cultural heritage' in a post on Twitter/X.

There were no reports of injuries. Ambulances attended the scene.

The nearby Christiansborg Palace, now the Danish parliament, was partially evacuated as the fire raged.

'Suddenly there was an announcement that we had to leave the building,' local outletBerlingske reported shortly after 8am BST.

'It happened quietly, and now we have about a hundred people standing outside.'

Early reports claimed parts of the spire had broken off and fallen onto the street by 7.30am BST (8.30am local time).

Members of an army unit were seen being deployed to cordon off the area, and the Danish Emergency Management Agency was also helping.

The Stock Exchange is a major landmark in the city, identifiable for its twisting 183ft 'Dragespir' (Dragon Spire) and three crowns on top, representing the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The building was undergoing renovations to restore its original façade and correct errors made during an attempt in the 19th century.

Horror footage released this morning showedbuilders caught up in the inferno realising that the iconic spire was about to come down on them.

The video showed the workers on the scaffolding outside the landmark building as they were running away from the flames which broke out around 7.30am.

One of the workers was Ole Hansen, 60, a bricklayer, who said he noticed the fire on the roof and quickly snapped a picture, before telling his colleagues to rush to safety.

'There were some stonemasons who shouted: 'We have to go down, we have to get out',' Hansen, who was working on the scaffolding alongside 14 others, told Danish outletfa*gbladet 3F.

'I have never experienced anything like this,' he added, before saying that he was quite shaken by the inferno after barely getting away before the building's 400-year-old spire collapsed.

'It was just terrible,' apprentice carpenter Claus Wolter Hansen agreed.

Danes have expressed their horror at '400 years of culture going up in flames' after the huge blaze broke out at the historic stock exchange.

Authorities are scrambling to preserve artefactsof the city's rich history, with even passers-by seen carrying large paintings away from the building in a race to save them from the spreading flames, which police said was under control around 3pm.

Among them was Mr Hanse, who helped carry paintings out of the burning landmark called The Børsen.

He said: 'There were four officials carrying a large painting. It was very windy and it looked like the painting was going to turn into a giant surf parachute because the four men were too light. So I ran over and helped.'

The stock exchange's 400-year-old spire has already been destroyed in the fire, leading to some to call the tragic incident Copenhagen's 'Notre-Dame moment'.

'I saw the spire on the Stock Exchange come down. It was violent,' Mr Hansen said, before adding that the building would look 'quite different' when the fire would finally be put out.

'It's horrible. It was one of the city's most beautiful buildings. I pass by here every day It's Notre Dame all over again,' another witness told state broadcasterDR, recalling the horrifying blaze at Paris' historic cathedral five years ago this month.

'So sad. An iconic building that means a lot to all of us, I think. Our own Notre Dame moment,' Danish deputy Prime MinisterTroels Lund Poulsen posted on X.

Danish King Frederik shared a statement on Instagram, writing: 'This morning we woke up to a sad sight, when smoke over Copenhagen's roof gave evidence of the destructive fire at Børsen. An important part of our architectural cultural heritage was and continues to be in flames.

'For 400 years, Christian IV's building edifice Børsen has been a significant landmark for Copenhagen. Through generations, the characteristic dragon spire has helped to depict Copenhagen as the 'city of towers'.

'Until today, we have considered the historic building as a beautiful symbol of our capital and a building that we, as a nation, have been proud of.'

A 'large bang' was heard early this morning before the spire collapsed.

Dramatic video captured the moment the 183ft monument toppled down into the street below in a burst of orange as bystanders watched on in tears.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce, which has owned the building since 1857, has worked on restoring it to the style of Denmark's King Christian IV..

'400 years of Danish cultural heritage in flames,' Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said, also on X. 'The building is filled with art that tells a lot about our history, about who we are as a people,' he later told reporters.

A large police and firefighting presence remains on the scene around the Børsen building, where scaffolding was seen to have collapsed into the inferno which has since been brought under control.

Authorities previously said the blaze was too risky to tackle from the inside, and that they were trying to limit the damage by closing off what they can.

'We are saving everything we possibly can,' Copenhagen fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters.

The historic building, whose spire was shaped as the tails of four dragons intertwined, had been under renovation and clad in scaffolding when the fire began.

Parts of the roof had collapsed and the fire spread to several floors of the building, Vedsted told reporters.'It's always sad to put out fires in old buildings,' he said.

Some 120 people were working to contain the fire but only around 40 per cent of it was under control, Vedsted said early this afternoon, adding that the firefighting operation would go on for at least 24 hours. There were no immediate reports of injuries, police said.

Surrounding streets in the Danish capital were also cordoned off and commuters urged to avoid the inner city as authorities desperately tried to tackle the fire, with the military drawn in to help manage public safety.

Crowds gathered in disbelief to look on as the building appeared to collapse in on itself.

TheBørsen, once the financial heart of Denmark, dates back as far as 1625 and contains many precious relics of the country's proud merchant history.

During the 1800s, the building was roofed with copper, as much of the original lead lining was scrapped to produce cannon balls during the Swedish occupation, 1658-59.

The building still contains many wooden structures, according to local media.

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 Danish Chamber of Commerce.

The tragedy comes five years since Notre Dame erupted into flamesin Paris during renovation work, on April 15 and April 16, 2019.

Today is also the birthday of former Queen Margrethe II, who abdicated on January 14 and turns 84 today.

The former monarch 'toned down' celebrations because of the fire, according to broadcaster TV2.

A band set to play outside the Fredensborg Castle has been cancelled.

The building - originally built by Christian IV in a bid to strengthen trading on the continent - came to house the Danish stock market in 1974.

The Børsen managed to escape a fire at the neighbouringChristiansborg Palace in 1990.

The Dutch Renaissance style building no longer houses the Danish stock exchange, but serves as headquarters for the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

The Old Stock Exchange is used for conferences and parties, and not open to the public, according to Visit Copenhagen.

The exact cause of the fire outbreak is currently unknown.