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Copenhagen residents looked on in horror Tuesday as the Danish capital’s historic stock exchange building was engulfed in flames and its 180-foot spire in the shape of four entwined dragon tails collapsed. Everyone inside the building was able to leave.
Emil Helms/Reuters
April 16 | Copenhagen
Flames and smoke rise from the stock exchange building. “Terrible pictures from the Stock Exchange this morning,” tweeted Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt. “400 years of Danish cultural heritage in flames.”
Known as the Borsen, the 400-year-old building served as the stock exchange until the 1970s. It then became the headquarters of the Danish Chamber of Commerce. Dramatic video from the scene showed huge plumes of black smoke billowing from the building and people rushing to rescue some of the historic paintings housed there.
April 16 | Copenhagen
A firefighter tries to extinguish the flames.
Emil Helms/AFP/Getty Images
Emil Helms/AFP/Getty Images
April 16 | Copenhagen
Flames and smoke rise from the building. The fire was first reported at 7:30 a.m. Copenhagen fire department head Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters that the blaze, which began in the building’s copper roof, had spread to several floors of the building.
April 16 | Copenhagen
Smoke billows from the fire. The incident was Denmark’s “Notre Dame moment,” Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen wrote on X, recalling the images of the burning Paris cathedral that was severely damaged five years ago.
Emil Helms/Reuters
Emil Helms/Reuters
April 16 | Copenhagen
People carry historic paintings from the building.
April 16 | Copenhagen
Fire and smoke rise from the building.
Ida Marie Odgaard/AP
Ida Marie Odgaard/AP
April 16 | Copenhagen
Firefighters battle the fire.
Emil Helms/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Emil Helms/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
April 16 | Copenhagen
Smoke billows during the fire. The cause of the fire was not initially clear. The Dutch Renaissance-style building, completed in 1625, is covered in scaffolding for renovations.
Tom Little/Reuters
Tom Little/Reuters
April 16 | Copenhagen
A person reacts as the fire burns.
April 16 | Copenhagen
Fire burns at the stock exchange building.
Ida Marie Odgaard/Reuters
Ida Marie Odgaard/Reuters
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Credits
Photo editing and production by Morgan Coates; Text by Kate Brady