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IN PICS: Copenhagen’s old exchange building in flames

The Copenhagen Stock Exchange Building, one of the capital's oldest, most iconic buildings, was in flames on Tuesday. Here are the most dramatic pictures.

Published: 16 April 2024 10:40 CEST

IN PICS: Copenhagen's old exchange building in flames

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

The fire broke out at around 8am, and by 8.45am, the Stock Exchange’s iconic central spire, made from four intertwining dragon tails, had collapsed.

Copenhagen’s old Stock Exchange building was in flames on Tuesday morning. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Fire services and people from the Danish Chamber of Commerce risked going into the building to rescue some of the valuable artwork which adorns its walls.

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

The fire services fires water in jets under the building’s copper roof to protect the structure below.

Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Large numbers of passers by stopped and watched the blaze, taking photos on their videos.

Passers by take photos of the fire from the square outside. Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Some spectators were visibly upset at the historic building went up in flames.

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Soldiers from the Royal Life Guards were dispatched to aid the firefighting efforts.

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

The smoke could be seen from quite some distance away.

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

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Where Malmö plans to place its first three Copenhagen Metro stops

Malmö and Copenhagen have been pushing for an Öresund Metro linking the two cities since at least 2011, but so far neither the Swedish government nor the Danish one have committed to stumping up their share of the roughly 30 billion Danish kroner (47 billion Swedish kronor, €4 billion) required.

Malmö hopes the Swedish government will take a decision on the project this autumn, and in preparation, the city’s planning board last Thursday took a decision on where the first three stops of the Öresund Metro should be placed.

They have selected Fullriggaren (currently a bus stop at the outermost tip of the city’s Västra Hamnen district), Stora Varvsgatan, in the centre of Västra Hamnen, and Malmö’s Central Station, as the locations of the first three stops, after which the idea is to extend the metro into the city.

Stefana Hoti, the Green Party councillor who chairs the planning committee, said that the new Fehmarn Belt connection between the Danish island of Lolland and Germany, which is expected to come into use in 2029, will increase the number of freight trains travelling through Copenhagen into Sweden making it necessary to build a new route for passengers.

Part of the cost, she said, could come from tolls levied on car and rail traffic over the existing Öresund Bridge, which will soon no longer need to be used to pay off loans taken to build the bridge more than 20 years ago.

“The bridge will be paid off in the near future. Then the tolls can be used to finance infrastructure that strengthens the entire country and creates space for more freight trains on the bridge,” Hoti told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

According to planning documents given out by the city planning authorities, the stop at Fullrigagaren would be called Galeonen and would be roughly, the one at Stora Varvsgatan will be called Masttorget, and the third stop would be called Malmö Central.

Source: Malmö Kommun

After Fullriggaren the next stop would be at Lergravsparken in the Amagerbro neighbourhood, which connects with the current M2 line, after which the there will be four new stops on the way to Copenhagen Central, including DR Byen on the current M1 line.

The hope is that the Öresund Metro will reduce the journey time between Copenhagen Central and Malmö Central from 40 minutes to 25 minutes.

Source: Oresunds Metro

But that’s not all. Excavating a tunnel between Malmö and Copenhagen will produce large amounts of earth, which the architect firm Arkitema has proposed should be used to extend Malmö’s Västra Hamnen district out into the sea, creating a new coastal district called Galeonen, meaning “The Galleon”, centred on the Fullriggaren Metro stop.

This project is similar to the Lynetteholm project in Copenhagen, which will use earth excavated for the Copenhagen Metro extension to build a peninsular in front of Copenhagen Harbour, providing housing and protecting the city from rising sea levels.

Rather than producing a sea wall to protect the new area from rising sea levels, Arkitema and its partner, the Danish engineering firm COWI, have proposed a new coastal wetland area.

“Instead of building a wall, we extended the land out into the sea. Then a green area is formed which is allowed to flood, and over time it will become a valuable environment, partly as a green area for Malmö residents, partly because of the rich biodiversity that will be created there,” Johanna Wadhstorp, an architect for Arkitema based in Stockholm, told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

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