Danish Stock Exchange fire, Copenhagen historic building damage, Børsen København, Denmark historic spire photos

Borsen Copenhagen, Denmark

Fire at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange Building, Denmark – Historic Danish Architecture

16 April 2024

‘National Disaster’: Fire Devastates Denmark’s Historic Boersen Building and Iconic Spire

One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed.

Boersen Copenhagen building
photo : Per Meistrup, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The fire that began Tuesday in the copper roof of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, has now spread to much of the building, and parts of the roof have also collapsed, said firefighters’ spokesman Jakob Vedsted Andersen. The fire was first reported at 7:30 a.m.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Parts of the roof have collapsed and the fire spread to several floors of the building, Copenhagen fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters.

The building, which is situated 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).

Huge billows of smoke rose over downtown Copenhagen and people were seen rushing inside the building to save paintings.

This historic Danish building had been under renovation and clad in scaffolding when the fire broke out.

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

Watch videos of the Børsen spire’s fall:

Copenhagen’s historic stock exchange in flames – BBC News – 6 minutes, 45 seconds

Moment spire collapses at Copenhagen’s old stock exchange – The Guardian – 21 seconds

Fire engulfs Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange in ‘Notre Dame moment’ – The Telegraph – 1 minute, 5 seconds

page updated 2 Sep 2016

Børsen København

Address: Slotsholmsgade og Børsgade, Indre By, Copenhagen, Denmark, Europe
Date built: 1625
Design: Lorenz og Hans van Steenwinkel, Arkitekten

Borsen Copenhagen building:
Børsen København Borsen Copenhagen

Børsen, also known as Børsbygningen, is a 17th-century stock exchange in the center of Copenhagen. The historic building is situated next to Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament, on the island of Slotsholmen.

The building contained 40 trading offices at the ground floor and one large room at the upper floor. The building was in use as a marketplace during the late 1620s.

The property’s address is 1217 København K, Denmark.

Construction started on this building in 1619.

The building’s architects were Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger and Lorenz van Steenwinckel.

The interior of the building was renovated in 1855. In 1857, Frederick VII sold the building to Grosserer-Societetet for 70,000 rigsdaler.

The building housed the Danish stock-market until 1974. In 1918, unemployed anarchists attacked Børsen, an attack that went to the Danish history books as “stormen på Børsen” (The Storm of the Stock Exchange). The building was restored by Nicolai Eigtved in 1745.

Current use
The building now serves as headquarters of the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv).

Buildings close to the Danish Stock Exchange include:

Building close to the Danish Stock Exchange
Christiansborg

Christiansborg
Christianshavn

The Nasdaq Copenhagen, formerly known as the Copenhagen Stock Exchange (Danish: Københavns Fondsbørs), is an international marketplace for Danish securities, including shares, bonds, treasury bills and notes, and financial futures and options.

Nasdaq Copenhagen is one of the Nasdaq Nordic Exchanges. Nasdaq Nordic goes back to the 2003 merger of OM AB and HEX plc to form OMX and is, since February 2008, part of Nasdaq, Inc. (formerly known as NASDAQ OMX Group).

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark, northern Europe

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