Walls collapse at Copenhagen's blaze-hit Old Stock Exchange

Tuesday's blaze toppled the spire of Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange and collapsed a large part of the roof, in scenes reminiscent of the fire that engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019. Smoke was still rising at the scene on Thursday as attention began turning to its restoration.

Large parts of the outer walls of Denmark's landmark 400-year-old stock exchange building collapsed on Thursday afternoon, two days after a fire ripped through the historic structure.

There was a loud bang as the brickwork came down and a cloud of ash enveloped the building. "The thing we feared has happened," Copenhagen fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen told reporters. One outer wall collapsed entirely, and the top of the wall surrounding the grand entrance to the building also crumbled to the ground.

There were no injuries, the fire department said. Its crews had earlier stacked up large containers filled with bricks to try to support the damaged walls. Tuesday's blaze toppled the spire of Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange and collapsed a large part of the roof, in scenes reminiscent of the fire that engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019.

Smoke was still rising at the scene on Thursday as attention began turning to its restoration. Firefighters had worked through a second night to quell remaining flames in the basement and would stay on site for at least another 24 hours, Copenhagen's fire department said.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce, which owns the building and uses it for its headquarters, has vowed to rebuild the exchange which originally opened as a commodities trading venue in the 17th century. Copenhagen's mayor, Sophie Haestorp Andersen, said she would travel to Paris next month to learn about Notre-Dame's restoration.

"Yesterday, I reached out to the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and talked about their experiences from when Notre-Dame burned five years ago," Andersen told Reuters. "She invited me and a team to Paris to look at how they dealt with the situation there."

Police said they hoped to begin investigations inside the building on Thursday, although it could take months to determine the cause of the fire. No one was hurt in the blaze. Anders Ellegaard of Denmark's national forensic centre told TV2 that experts would help determine whether police could pursue a criminal case.

Teachers from nearby schools brought their students to see the smouldering shell in the centre of Copenhagen, and streets were still closed to traffic. The Chamber of Commerce said it had received more than 1,000 offers from funds, companies and private individuals, both in Denmark and abroad, to help the reconstruction effort.

"I think it should be rebuilt in some way," said Line Dalsgaard, who works as a consultant at University of Copenhagen. "I just returned from Paris and passed the Notre Dame - so it is possible to rebuild it."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)