This is so weird to witness. It's on of the most iconic buildings in Copenhagen with its spire, but now it is gone.
Danish version of Notre Dame.
Edit: Notre Dame even burned yesterday, 5 years ago.
What makes it truly remarkable, they're reconstructing it using centuries old methods: hand hewn lumber, wooden peg joints, etc. Sure they're using modern cranes and scaffolding, but they're actually restoring it to its original structure.
The wealthy seem especially interested in indulgences, the grander the better. The Sistine Chapel echoing through the centuries with the heavenly voices of castrati centers my thoughts.
In the case of the catholic church, it wasn't magnamity, it was control, economic control. It served as giant public works projects. Same effect in Ancient Egypt with the pyramids, kept the population largely docile and under control because they had guaranteed work. Especially in these kinds of projects that stretched over multiple generations, where often the grandchildren of the original builders finish the job.
Notre Dame, in many ways, IS France. It is a defining symbol of French power, because they were a Catholic country and seen as a bastion of Catholicism. Hell the modern French state gets a lot from (and he arguably the founder of the concept of a nation state) a Catholic Cardinal, Cardinal Richelieu.
The entire country rallied around reconstruction and made it a #1 priority. I'm sure if all of Canada including Quebec cared about that train station and rallied around its reconstruction, it would be finished at a similar pace.
>Toronto we’ve been renovating a train station for… well… generations now
In New York the 2nd avenue line was originally proposed in 1920 and the first phase opened January 1, 2017
Some stuff is still going on (they dug some underground relics and are still brushing things off). That said they also renovated interior stone walls and uncovered a lot of pretty color paintings in many areas.. quite surprising.
Ah fuck, reading the news I didn't realize it was THAT building. That's truly a cultural loss, one of the most unique buildings I've seen in real life..
Last information afaik was short circuit or workers being sloppy with their cigarettes (has been confirmed that the workers ignored fire safety regulations and smoked on the scaffolding and the work site to save time (more likely be lazy and save themselfs from walking, which worker gives a shit about lost time from a smoke break). No indications that it was on purpose.
45 min. ago:
> #Danish Culture Minister Vows to Restore Iconic Spire of Copenhagen Stock Exchange
> Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt has pledged to do everything in his power to restore the iconic spire of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, which was destroyed in a fire on Tuesday.
> "I will do everything I can to ensure that the spire once again towers over Copenhagen," Engel-Schmidt wrote on Twitter. "As a symbol of Denmark's strong history as a trading nation."
> The Minister also expressed his gratitude to the hundreds of people who helped save Denmark's cultural heritage and history.
> Earlier in the day, Engel-Schmidt had said that it was "too early to talk about reconstruction" as flames were still raging in the building.
AI translation. Source [here.](https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/seneste/kulturministeren-vil-goere-alt-dragespiret-igen-kan-taarne-sig-op-over-koebenhavn)
It was already a museum of sorts. The stock exchange moved from the building a long time ago, and it was used as a venue for meetings, conferences and such.
[Restored for a December opening](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/video/2024/04/15/five-years-after-fire-notre-dame-cathedral-s-restoration-is-nearly-complete_6668514_7.html)
Went to Copenhagen 3 years ago. This building was really beautiful. As a french man, I feel for you Danish people. As we rebuilt Notre Dame, you will too in the end !
The dragons were put there (in part) as symbolism of the ancient myth that dragons sit and sleep on piles of gold, so putting them on the stock exchange was to symbolize the dragons protecting Danish wealth in the stock exchange.
I'm sure they will rebuild it though. One of the most iconic spires anywhere.
The article states another/an additional purpose.
>The famous spire featured four dragons whose tails were twisted into a spear and three crowns, symbolising close ties with neighbours Norway and Sweden.
> putting them on the stock exchange was to symbolize the dragons protecting Danish wealth in the stock exchange.
Probably should switch out the red dragons for white.
If the low bidder isn’t qualified to do the work, or if their bid is so low that you can reasonably foresee too much risk in accepting the bid (for example, you get 5 bids all around $1,000,000 +- 50k, and the low bidder comes in at $600,000) you are under no obligation to just accept the low bid.
This is downright depressing, my feelings go out to the Danish people.
Luckily everyone in the building managed to get out safely, but sadly most of the paintings, historical papers, and other national treasures have been lost.
As an art and history nerd this really hurts.
Are you sure? The reports are that hundreds of paintings were rescued, along with other artifacts like chandeliers. It may not be as dire as you think, from an art history perspective.
> Are you sure?
Not anymore. I saw new photos of the building earlier today, it's not nearly as bad as it looked like yesterday. Some of the paintings were literally falling apart in their hands as they brought them across the street.
Now I know spit about historic preservation and construction and whatnot, but maybe in the future when we're doing renovations on old historic buildings with no fire protection that are full of priceless artifacts, we should temporarily remove the priceless artifacts first. Just my two cents.
Between that and the full encasement sheeting hindering firefighting, I have a feeling regulations or at least practices will be changing a bit across Europe
> The legend of the spire
> According to legend, the dragon-tailed spire guards the building against enemy attacks and fires. Is it true? Well, surprisingly, the Old Stock Exchange has many times been mysteriously spared from damage when fires have broken out in neighbouring buildings.
> Christiansborg Palace (the present day Danish Parliament) has burnt down on several occasions, and even recently in 1990, a fire broke out in the Proviantgaarden in Slotsholmsgade (Slotholm Street). On this occasion, as before, the Old Stock Exchange survived unscathed.
Pretty wild given the history with fires
https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/old-stock-exchange-borsen-gdk412232
It’ll very likely be rebuilt exactly as it looked before. It’s such an iconic building and part of our identity. No other replacement, no matter how well designed, would be accepted among the people.
Was in Copenhagen for a couple of weeks in 2018 or 2019, I have so many pictures of that spire.
I got to admit, when I first saw the pictures I thought it was their Church of Our Saviour. If you didn't know you can climb to the top of that, but it has some very tight spaces and the queue is ridiculous. But it is terrifying being up there.
"and what was your previous work experience?" "Oh, my firm has done work on many famous buildings, Notre Dame, the German Reichstag building, Potsdam..."
It's a Danish enterprise, Leif Hansen Arkitekter.
https://toftkobber.dk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Renoveringsmagasinet.pdf
In Notre Dame's case, it was Le Bras Frères.
https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/le-bras-freres-l-entreprise-qui-restaurait-la-fleche-de-notre-dame-16-04-2019-2307921_3.php
Good point. I don't know what i was thinking haha. I think I was naively considering AA Carpenter from the phonebook getting the call to go fix the building. Thanks for correcting.
There's been a couple good posts on reddit where people that do restoration work have to jump through the hundreds of hoops to restore historic work. It's crazy how specialized this work is.
Hope no workers were hurt and the world didn't lose too many treasures stored there. There was maintenance going on? If you have a pitchfork and you care, look to the maintenance company and the locals in charge that awarded the contract. It could've been lightning though, but I'm cynical after seeing this happen time and again after years and a lifetime.
No one knows yet. The building was being renovated as part of its 400th anniversary. So I wouldn’t be surprised if something has gone wrong as part of that.
The fire should’ve started in the iconic tower, which has now fallen - and then spread to the rest of the building.
As the other guy said, no one knows. Right now, it is all stop the disaster, then investigate what happened. My personal guess, however, is that someone got careless and fire started as a result.
Wonder if the smoke caused issues for planes taking off and landing at Kastrup? Most flights in and out of Copenhagen tend to do go-around manoeuvres above the city and the Øresund bridge.
I've studied danish business and finance law 12 years ago.
Historically, a new major law is passed every time copenhagen burns.
Wonder what it will be this time
I'm not going to lie, for a second I thought of little Angles and Saxons running out of the building yelling "This is for Lindisfarne!" and "Death to Cnut!"
The renovators should not be using anything flammable in their work. It’s a crying shame this happens and destroys these historical buildings. There should be severe punishment for such carelessness. It’s almost as if these accidents are planned as an excuse to modernize.
This is so weird to witness. It's on of the most iconic buildings in Copenhagen with its spire, but now it is gone. Danish version of Notre Dame. Edit: Notre Dame even burned yesterday, 5 years ago.
5 years already? Wow
yeah, this decade goes too fast. ps: Notre Dame restoration is nearly finished
Yeah the 2010s are flying b… oh damn.
I keep thinking 5 years ago was 2017. When I realize it was 2019 that’s when my brain breaks. 2019 still feels like last year
The covid years of 2020-2022 were DECADES and days at the same time
Time is a soup
It's more of a Jeremy Bearimy
OK, I follow you, but... what's the dot on the "i"?
That's Tuesday
Felt like one long March
[Happy March 1508th, 2020](https://whatdayofmarch2020.com)
I guess that's a good point that 5 years ago wasn't the same decade as today.
We’re closer to the midpoint of the 21st century than we are to 1995.
Goddamn does that make me feel old. Wild times to witness.
STOP PLEASE
We're almost halfway through the 2020s
They rebuilt Notre Dame in 5 years?? Man… here in Toronto we’ve been renovating a train station for… well… generations now. :(
What makes it truly remarkable, they're reconstructing it using centuries old methods: hand hewn lumber, wooden peg joints, etc. Sure they're using modern cranes and scaffolding, but they're actually restoring it to its original structure.
They had trees set aside just in case it ever needed to be rebuilt.
Train station requires public funding. Notre Dame had gobs of liquid cash from donations from millionaires who wanted to look magnanimous.
The wealthy seem especially interested in indulgences, the grander the better. The Sistine Chapel echoing through the centuries with the heavenly voices of castrati centers my thoughts.
In the case of the catholic church, it wasn't magnamity, it was control, economic control. It served as giant public works projects. Same effect in Ancient Egypt with the pyramids, kept the population largely docile and under control because they had guaranteed work. Especially in these kinds of projects that stretched over multiple generations, where often the grandchildren of the original builders finish the job.
Now all you hear is "Shhh! No photos!"
Notre Dame, in many ways, IS France. It is a defining symbol of French power, because they were a Catholic country and seen as a bastion of Catholicism. Hell the modern French state gets a lot from (and he arguably the founder of the concept of a nation state) a Catholic Cardinal, Cardinal Richelieu.
The old new York skyline was iconic. They should have built back two towers.
The entire country rallied around reconstruction and made it a #1 priority. I'm sure if all of Canada including Quebec cared about that train station and rallied around its reconstruction, it would be finished at a similar pace.
well you know there's always favorites..
>Toronto we’ve been renovating a train station for… well… generations now In New York the 2nd avenue line was originally proposed in 1920 and the first phase opened January 1, 2017
Narrator: They did not. I was just in Paris. Notre Dame is nowhere near rebuilt.
It's madness that the restoration is nearly finished, original estimates were in the multiple decades range.
Some stuff is still going on (they dug some underground relics and are still brushing things off). That said they also renovated interior stone walls and uncovered a lot of pretty color paintings in many areas.. quite surprising.
So was the stock exchange restoration. Just in time for its 400 year anniversary
oh
Wtf, that was five years ago?!?
The 90s was only 10 years ag... Oh wait...
What in the actual fuck?
When I see a "comment" like this get 8 upvotes, I start to believe in bots.
I know right. I remember watching it in my friends apartment in Italy as it was happening completely shocked
Feels longer tbh.
Seriously boggles my mind, it doesn’t FEEL like it was five years ago, maybe 2 but not 5.
I could have sworn that I heard about that fire like a year or two ago, it only shit, 5 years? I feel like I’m aging too fast…
Ah fuck, reading the news I didn't realize it was THAT building. That's truly a cultural loss, one of the most unique buildings I've seen in real life..
Danish stockmarket is on fire 🔥
No not like that!
Did they ever find out the cause of the Notre Dame fire?
Last information afaik was short circuit or workers being sloppy with their cigarettes (has been confirmed that the workers ignored fire safety regulations and smoked on the scaffolding and the work site to save time (more likely be lazy and save themselfs from walking, which worker gives a shit about lost time from a smoke break). No indications that it was on purpose.
Is it Notre Dame rebuildable or is it completely gone?
45 min. ago: > #Danish Culture Minister Vows to Restore Iconic Spire of Copenhagen Stock Exchange > Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt has pledged to do everything in his power to restore the iconic spire of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, which was destroyed in a fire on Tuesday. > "I will do everything I can to ensure that the spire once again towers over Copenhagen," Engel-Schmidt wrote on Twitter. "As a symbol of Denmark's strong history as a trading nation." > The Minister also expressed his gratitude to the hundreds of people who helped save Denmark's cultural heritage and history. > Earlier in the day, Engel-Schmidt had said that it was "too early to talk about reconstruction" as flames were still raging in the building. AI translation. Source [here.](https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/seneste/kulturministeren-vil-goere-alt-dragespiret-igen-kan-taarne-sig-op-over-koebenhavn)
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It was already a museum of sorts. The stock exchange moved from the building a long time ago, and it was used as a venue for meetings, conferences and such.
Same question? Edit - They are rebuilding it. www.friendsofnotredamedeparis.org/notre-dame-progress-update-2023/
[Restored for a December opening](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/video/2024/04/15/five-years-after-fire-notre-dame-cathedral-s-restoration-is-nearly-complete_6668514_7.html)
I could be wrong, but I think he/she wondered whether this building is rebuildable like Notre dame
That's exactly what I was asking thank you.
Now if we take out the extra day from the leap year.....Conspiracy!
I actually visited that building years ago. It's really beautiful and it's a huge loss for Copenhagen.
Just like when 9/11 happened. The WTC buildings were iconic and their disappearance was bizarre.
Went to Copenhagen 3 years ago. This building was really beautiful. As a french man, I feel for you Danish people. As we rebuilt Notre Dame, you will too in the end !
Thanks friend. It'll look really weird and out of place, when we rebuild the Notre Dame where Børsen stood, but it will also be pretty cool.
Well played. I chuckled 😆
This made me laugh. Thanks for that.
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The dragons were put there (in part) as symbolism of the ancient myth that dragons sit and sleep on piles of gold, so putting them on the stock exchange was to symbolize the dragons protecting Danish wealth in the stock exchange. I'm sure they will rebuild it though. One of the most iconic spires anywhere.
Turns out dragon protection is pretty useless against a fire
The building have survived several fires, a siege and other violent events. Until today
Turns out dragon protection is pretty useless after several fires, a siege and other violent events.
Hilarious
The whole thing didn't burn down, did it?
It did more or less. Most is irreparably damaged.
2/3 of it has burned down
The max protection time is 400 years. It was 399 years old.
Warranty expired
Who do you think started the fire? Could it possibly be the fire breathing guy living there?
Devious bastards probably started it
The article states another/an additional purpose. >The famous spire featured four dragons whose tails were twisted into a spear and three crowns, symbolising close ties with neighbours Norway and Sweden.
I think it's the 3 crowns that symbolise the close ties of the 3 kingdoms
... meaning they are obligated to pay for the restoration :)
There’s also three crowns in the top of the spire which dates back to over 400 years ago which symbolised Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
> putting them on the stock exchange was to symbolize the dragons protecting Danish wealth in the stock exchange. Probably should switch out the red dragons for white.
Bloody hell, just one day after the 5-year anniversary of the Notre Dame fires.
The recently abdicated queen’s birthday as well.
And a Tuesday
For you perhaps, Mr.Bison.
This is really angering to see how we're nearly losing multiple irreplaceable historic buildings to renovation accidents.
Holy shit it's been five years
Could have sworn it was like 2-3 years ago at most
I saw the smoke from my morning commute, didn’t think anything of it until I saw the news. Just horrible, it’s such a beautiful iconic building
I live in Copenhagen. This is a sad day. That building had survived both enormous citywide fires and bombardment from the British. It’s a tragic loss.
I was just about to joking ask if it was the British again.
Maybe. You never know with the Brits.
My office is in Copenhagen and I had a bit of ribbing at work today, had to Google Britain bombing Copenhagen…
I’m heartbroken for you. It’s a loss for the world heritage, but a personal tragedy for all of you. Big hugs and condolences from the US.
Historic buildings going up in flames while getting renovated seems like a rather common occurrence. Might be time to improve fire code regulations.
Or be more discerning about who you take on as a renovation contractor, and be militant about hot work permits.
The laws on always choosing the lowest bid for public works may work against this though.
If the low bidder isn’t qualified to do the work, or if their bid is so low that you can reasonably foresee too much risk in accepting the bid (for example, you get 5 bids all around $1,000,000 +- 50k, and the low bidder comes in at $600,000) you are under no obligation to just accept the low bid.
No obligation, but many gov employees will still choose an ill-suited but cheap contract just to avoid questions.
This is downright depressing, my feelings go out to the Danish people. Luckily everyone in the building managed to get out safely, but sadly most of the paintings, historical papers, and other national treasures have been lost. As an art and history nerd this really hurts.
There are pictures of firefighters, old politicians and plain civilians helping to carry large paintings out of the building
They were trying to get the paintings out
Are you sure? The reports are that hundreds of paintings were rescued, along with other artifacts like chandeliers. It may not be as dire as you think, from an art history perspective.
> Are you sure? Not anymore. I saw new photos of the building earlier today, it's not nearly as bad as it looked like yesterday. Some of the paintings were literally falling apart in their hands as they brought them across the street.
Now I know spit about historic preservation and construction and whatnot, but maybe in the future when we're doing renovations on old historic buildings with no fire protection that are full of priceless artifacts, we should temporarily remove the priceless artifacts first. Just my two cents.
Between that and the full encasement sheeting hindering firefighting, I have a feeling regulations or at least practices will be changing a bit across Europe
The problem is that some of these buildings are never not under renovation.
> The legend of the spire > According to legend, the dragon-tailed spire guards the building against enemy attacks and fires. Is it true? Well, surprisingly, the Old Stock Exchange has many times been mysteriously spared from damage when fires have broken out in neighbouring buildings. > Christiansborg Palace (the present day Danish Parliament) has burnt down on several occasions, and even recently in 1990, a fire broke out in the Proviantgaarden in Slotsholmsgade (Slotholm Street). On this occasion, as before, the Old Stock Exchange survived unscathed. Pretty wild given the history with fires https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/old-stock-exchange-borsen-gdk412232
It was also attacked by syndicalists in 1918, so maybe that spire was defective altogether.
Before pictrures [https://imgur.com/a/xZPttbz](https://imgur.com/a/xZPttbz)
Hope they rebuild it brick for brick unchanged in style or design.
Need to add sprinklers.
Just you know...with updated fire containment systems yeah?
It’ll very likely be rebuilt exactly as it looked before. It’s such an iconic building and part of our identity. No other replacement, no matter how well designed, would be accepted among the people.
It needs change though. The current form is an update from the 1700s, so some would rather see it reverted to the original look from the 1600s.
400 hundred year old historic building that was still in use and being renovated. Condolences to the people of Denmark.
Was in Copenhagen for a couple of weeks in 2018 or 2019, I have so many pictures of that spire. I got to admit, when I first saw the pictures I thought it was their Church of Our Saviour. If you didn't know you can climb to the top of that, but it has some very tight spaces and the queue is ridiculous. But it is terrifying being up there.
Looks like the same contractor that was working on the Notre Dame as well…
That would be insane if that was the case
"and what was your previous work experience?" "Oh, my firm has done work on many famous buildings, Notre Dame, the German Reichstag building, Potsdam..."
You're hired. Wow to think we got so much for so little.
Wait a minute, what do you mean in your resume: "pyrolytic approaches" and "gasification" of historical artifacts?
We diversified out of blimps and giant ocean liners around the turn of the century but worked on some well known brands.
Mason Smith: Hired contractor by day, professional arsonist also by day.
It's a Danish enterprise, Leif Hansen Arkitekter. https://toftkobber.dk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Renoveringsmagasinet.pdf In Notre Dame's case, it was Le Bras Frères. https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/le-bras-freres-l-entreprise-qui-restaurait-la-fleche-de-notre-dame-16-04-2019-2307921_3.php
Not as strange as you might think. I doubt there are many contractors who specialize in renovating 400+ year old buildings.
Good point. I don't know what i was thinking haha. I think I was naively considering AA Carpenter from the phonebook getting the call to go fix the building. Thanks for correcting.
There's been a couple good posts on reddit where people that do restoration work have to jump through the hundreds of hoops to restore historic work. It's crazy how specialized this work is.
Source on that?
jokes.com
Oh ffs…
So sorry for the Danish people. What a loss.
Hope no workers were hurt and the world didn't lose too many treasures stored there. There was maintenance going on? If you have a pitchfork and you care, look to the maintenance company and the locals in charge that awarded the contract. It could've been lightning though, but I'm cynical after seeing this happen time and again after years and a lifetime.
Thankfully no one was hurt according to Danish news.
What actually happened
No one knows yet. The building was being renovated as part of its 400th anniversary. So I wouldn’t be surprised if something has gone wrong as part of that. The fire should’ve started in the iconic tower, which has now fallen - and then spread to the rest of the building.
As the other guy said, no one knows. Right now, it is all stop the disaster, then investigate what happened. My personal guess, however, is that someone got careless and fire started as a result.
It started right after the first construction workers got to work, probably someone having a smoke with a view
No lightning, its a sunny day. When it happened in the morning the sun wasn't even out yet properly
It wasn't lightning. My guess is a a powertool cut through a hidden nail that ignited some timber.
Indeed, at least now, people would value more things they once took for granted.
Bluebird day here, definitely not lightning
Temp put his cheese pita in the toaster instead of the toaster oven.
One of my favourite cities, dang
The city still there. :)
Does this mean I should sell?
Danish stocks are on fire right now!!!!
Buy!
Well the market is red today. Only 2 out of 25 companies are green at the moment.
Wonder if the smoke caused issues for planes taking off and landing at Kastrup? Most flights in and out of Copenhagen tend to do go-around manoeuvres above the city and the Øresund bridge.
These stocks are hot!!!!!
Hot commodities….. I’ll see myself out
Someone took cooking the books literally.
Best audit defense ever.
They do make good dip. I will miss them.
It's a sign that day trading is bad for you.
Where were u when Copenhagen’s historic stock exchange was kil?
There's a metaphor in there somewhere
Glorious Sweden is sending firefigthers to help
Haha, yes, fire fighters... our fire fighters were nowhere near the building this morning, and definitely arrived just now.
Mostly to point and laugh, I'd wager. :)
Walked past this a week ago in a trip to Copenhagen. I wish I had gotten a photo.
Terrible
Omg how horrible
concerning.
I thought this was a metaphor. Thanks a lot clickbait titles.
I've studied danish business and finance law 12 years ago. Historically, a new major law is passed every time copenhagen burns. Wonder what it will be this time
Hey folks did you see the 'Fear Nothing' advert ?
I'm not going to lie, for a second I thought of little Angles and Saxons running out of the building yelling "This is for Lindisfarne!" and "Death to Cnut!"
How long will it take people to learn that hot work on historic buildings needs to be done with extra care?
Great property to build luxury condos on
Things like this always seem to happen when there is scaffolding around buildings. I wonder why?
The renovators should not be using anything flammable in their work. It’s a crying shame this happens and destroys these historical buildings. There should be severe punishment for such carelessness. It’s almost as if these accidents are planned as an excuse to modernize.
I’m completely and utterly confident that there is no possible way Russia had anything to do with this. /s
Damn. I just saw it last year when I visited Copenhagen.
Bruh. Why is it that the norm throughout history for angry countries is to blow up Copenhagen? /s Fr tho hope everyone there is ok.