Shortly after the devastating fire at the historic stock exchange in Copenhagen, there is a tireless desire to rescue and still a few unanswered questions. On Wednesday morning, the fire department confirmed that extinguishing work was still underway in the burned half of the building and would take at least another full day. According to the fire department, the fire has been under control since Tuesday afternoon. This prevented it from jumping to the other half of the structure. However, important structures inside have been destroyed. Parts of the roof had also collapsed.
One of the biggest challenges: preventing the building from collapsing completely. To do this, the emergency services placed numerous containers on the outside of the walls to support the structure as best as possible. The question of why the fire started still remains unanswered. The structure is scaffolded due to restoration work. It was initially unclear whether the work had anything to do with the fire.
The old stock exchange in Copenhagen is to be rebuilt
It is also still unclear how great the damage really is. The head of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Brian Mikkelsen, reiterated that the building should definitely be rebuilt. In the meantime, the destroyed part of the “Børsen” could be entered. Photos from inside now show the extent of the destruction caused by the inferno.
The old stock exchange, which is now home to the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which also owns the building, houses, among other things, a large art collection. The building has not been used as a stock exchange in the true sense for a long time.
Numerous works of art were rescued from the burning building by firefighters and Chamber of Commerce employees, among others. You can read more about it here:
On Wednesday it was said that it could be a long time before the extent of the damage could be quantified. Among other things, heavy sculptures and statues are still being recovered. Several works were also identified under the roof of the part of the stock exchange that was not burned out, a spokeswoman for the National Museum told the Danish news agency Ritzau.
Spire saved: “A little light in the darkness”
The iconic top of the burning historic stock exchange in Copenhagen has already gone back to the Danish Chamber of Commerce. Mikkelsen received it from an emergency worker on Wednesday morning. He himself called it “a little light in the darkness” on X (formerly Twitter). The piece of the so-called Drachenspitze had survived the fire and the deep fall.
The historic stock exchange is located on the eastern tip of the island of Slotsholmen. The building was completed in 1625 with a church tower. It was built by order of the then king in the Dutch Renaissance style to make Copenhagen a financial and commercial center.