Tip of dragon-tailed ‘fire protector’ spire recovered
DENMARK’S Old Stock Exchange will be rebuilt after a devastating fire destroyed half the building and damaged much of the rest, said the owner of the Copenhagen landmark.
The blaze ripped through the 400-year-old structure on Tuesday, toppling its spire and triggering the collapse of a large roof section in scenes reminiscent of the 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Among the parts lost in the blaze was the large hall which in the 17th century had housed the stalls of commodities traders, said the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which has owned the building since 1857.
The ornamented metal tip of the dragon-tailed spire that had sat 52m above street level of the Dutch Renaissance-style
building was recovered and will eventually resume its rightful place, the Chamber said.
“The dragons (on the spire) were supposed to protect from enemies and fire, and they have succeeded – until today,” the city council said on Tuesday. “We cannot do without the Stock Exchange. Now is the time to show what we’re made of.”
Chamber CEO Brian Mikkelsen, holding the recovered metal piece in the air, said: “It gives me hope because we have decided to rebuild the stock exchange because it’s part of European history as a trading continent”.
The building is one of the Danish capital’s best-known landmarks.
It was built on the orders of King Christian IV and opened in 1624 as a commodities trading place. After two big wars, the building was an attempt by the Danish king to develop trading.
The spire was seen as symbolically protecting the exchange from enemies as well as from fire. When the building was nearly finished in 1623, the king was not satisfied with its warehouse-like appearance. He ordered a new roof and a spire that was designed by his own firework master.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, which smouldered for days after it started on Tuesday. The building was undergoing extensive restoration before its 400th anniversary to bring it back to its original Renaissance style.
The fire started in an area where the work was ongoing, operational manager in Copenhagen’s fire department, Tim Ole Simonsen, said.
Police investigating said it could take months to determine the cause. No one was hurt.
Scaffolding around the building made it harder for emergency services to get through to the flames, while the copper roof was preserving the heat.
The building contained many artworks, including paintings and statues.
Emergency services were joined by passers-by on Tuesday in carrying paintings away from the building soon after the fire broke out in a race to save historic artefacts from the flames.
Employees and firefighters knew what to get out because they already had a “worst case” emergency plan in place, Mikkelsen said. |