COPENHAGEN, 16 Apr: A fire raged through one of Copenhagen\u2019s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables.
\nDanish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said it was \u201ctouching\u201d to see how many people lent their hand \u201cto save art treasures and iconic images from the burning building.\u201d One man jumped off his bicycle on his way to work to help.
\nBrian Mikkelsen, chief of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which is headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange, and his staff were seen scrolling through a binder of photos of paintings to be saved. The works were carried to the nearby parliament and Danish National Archives around the corner.
\n\u201cWe have been able to rescue a lot,\u201d a visibly moved Mikkelsen told reporters. \u201cIt is a national disaster.\u201d
\nHe also took part in saving valuables from the flames, and said they had to use tools including like a crowbar to remove them.
\nThe 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\u2019s interior, said firefighters spokesman Jakob Vedsted Andersen.
\n\u201cThe fire is still not under control,\u201d Vedsted Andersen said, 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 expected to be at the scene for the next 24 hours.
\nTommy Laursen of the Copenhagen police said it was too early to say what caused the fire and that they would able to enter the building in \u201ca few days.\u201d
\nFirefighters who reportedly pumped water from the nearby canal were seen spraying water through the doorway of the Old Stock Exchange\u2019s gilded hall that is used for gala dinners, conferences and other events and where many paintings hung.
\nThe building, next to the Christiansborg Palace where the parliament sits, is a popular tourist attraction. Its distinctive spire, in the shape of the tails of four dragons twined together, reached a height of 56 meters (184 feet).
\nHuge billows of smoke rose over downtown Copenhagen and could be seen from southern Sweden, which is separated by a narrow waterway.
\nAmbulances were at the scene but there were no reports of casualties. A spokesman for the company working on renovating the building said the carpenters who worked on the roof had all come out.
\nUp to 90 members of an army unit were deployed from a nearby base to cordon off the area and \u201csecure valuables,\u201d Denmark\u2019s armed forces said.
\nKing Frederik wrote on Instagram that \u201cthey woke up to a sad sight\u201d of \u201can important part of our architectural heritage\u201d being destroyed.
\nPrime Minister Mette Frederiksen wrote on Instagram that it hurt to see that \u201cirreplaceable cultural heritage\u201d and \u201da piece of Danish history is on fire.\u201d
\nThe building and the spire had been encased in scaffolding. The roof, masonry, sandstone and spire of Boersen \u2014 built in 1615 and considered a leading example of Dutch Renaissance style in Denmark \u2014 was being renovated, said the Chamber of Commerce, which moved into the building after Copenhagen\u2019s stock exchange left in 1974. The chamber owns the building.
\nMikkelsen said they had planned to have the royal family, the Danish government and other dignitaries see the Old Stock Exchange after the renovation later this year. \u201cThat won\u2019t happen now,\u201d he said.
\nIt was unclear what will happen to the iconic building.
\nEngel-Schmidt, the culture minister, wrote on X that \u201cI will do everything I can so that the dragon spire will once again tower over Copenhagen,\u201d and said it had been \u201ca symbol of Denmark\u2019s strong history as a trading nation.\u201d
\nThe 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 was unscathed.
\nThat annex, which lies in the block behind the Old Stock Exchange, was evacuated as a precaution, as were ministries in the street behind the burning building.
\nPolice said on the social media platform X that a main road in Copenhagen was closed and people should expect the area to be cordoned off for some time. Several bus lines were rerouted and Danish media reported huge traffic jams.
\nQueen Margrethe, who turned 84 Tuesday, toned down the celebrations because of the fire, broadcaster TV2 said. A band with the Royal Life Guard was to play for the former monarch outside the Fredensborg Castle, where she is staying for the spring and summer, but that was canceled. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COPENHAGEN, 16 Apr: A fire raged through one of Copenhagen\u2019s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said it was \u201ctouching\u201d to see how many people lent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}