Denmark’s historic old stock exchange building in the centre of Copenhagen has been engulfed by fire.

The 17th Century Børsen is one of the city’s oldest buildings and onlookers gasped as its iconic spire collapsed in the flames.

Everyone inside the building was able to leave and people rushed to rescue some of its historic paintings.

Culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said 400 years of Danish cultural heritage had gone up in flames.

The building, dating back to 1625, is a stone’s throw from Denmark’s parliament, the Folketing, housed in the old royal palace of Christiansborg castle. Danish media said the nearby square was being evacuated.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    7 months ago

    Such a terrible shame when historic buildings are destroyed this way. I’ve been trying to figure out what was lost inside since it’s being called a tourist destination, but I’m not seeing much information. Was a lot of artwork lost? Or important archives? Not that it would be okay without those, but those would make it worse.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    7 months ago

    The old stock exchange was being renovated and had been shrouded in scaffolding and protective plastic covering.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_fire

    The fire has been compared to the similar 1992 Windsor Castle fire and the Uppark fire, among others,[114] and has raised old questions about the safety of similar structures and the techniques used to restore them.[114] Renovation increases fire risk, and a police source reported they are looking into whether such work had caused this incident.[19][115]

    Renovation presents a fire risk from sparks, short-circuits, and heat from welding (roof repairs involved cutting, and soldering lead sheets resting on timber[19]). Normally, no electrical is allowed in the roof space because of the extreme fire risk.[24] The roof framing was made of very dry timber, often powdery with age.[19] After the fire, the architect responsible for fire safety at the cathedral acknowledged that the rate at which fire might spread had been underestimated, and experts said it was well known that a fire in the roof would be almost impossible to control.[27]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppark#Fire

    On 30 August 1989 the building was devastated by a fire caused by a workman’s blowtorch whilst repairing lead flashing on the roof, just two days before the work was due to be completed.[10] The fire broke out during opening hours. Many works of art and pieces of furniture were carried out of the burning building by members of the Meade-Fetherstonehaugh family, National Trust staff and members of the public. Although the garret and first floors collapsed onto the lower floors and the garret and first-floor contents were lost completely, the floors largely fell clear of the ground-floor walls and much of the panelling and decoration survived.

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        7 months ago

        Looks like they’ve updated OP’s article to mention Notre Dame and draw parallels as well.

        One of the craftsmen replacing brickwork on the building saw the fire break out on the roof while he was on the scaffolding.

        Fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen said firefighters faced an almost impossible task accessing the area under the old copper roof.

    • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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      7 months ago

      Kinda wild we don’t learn from these past mistakes. Notre Dame was only 5 years ago.

      • trebuchet
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        7 months ago

        What’s the lesson to take away?

        • Billiam@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Time-travel to the 17th century and stop construction on non-fire-removedant buildings, obviously.

          • leftzero
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            7 months ago

            non-fire- removed ant

            I don’t know which instance is doing this shit (world or ml, I assume), but it’s absolutely removed. 😤

        • FilterItOut@thelemmy.club
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          7 months ago

          Remove the historic paintings during renovation, at least. Surely it would be possible to rig up some sort of sprinkler system as well. Firefighter access to the roof may be difficult once the fire is blazing, but maybe some mitigation systems could be installed before the blowtorches and welders come out.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Not just better fire safety, but an appropriate approach to fire safety that accounts for the fact that these buildings are beyond antiques with considerations very different than modern buildings.

        • Madison420@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Wood rooves need halide protections. The biggest issue is the way rooves were made back in the day often leaving a gap between the ceiling of the structure and the roof continuing the full length and width of the roof. Dump a bunch of halide in that gap and it should snuff itself.

          Its very similar to the reason balloon framing is seen as super dangerous.

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Took me a second to realize they meant literal flames, not a figure of speech describing a market selloff. Poor building. : (