{"id":30434,"date":"2026-03-02T08:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/30434\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:39:48","slug":"copenhagens-old-stock-exchange-is-being-restored-after-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/30434\/","title":{"rendered":"Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange is being restored after fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) \u2014 Balancing on wooden boards, coppersmiths are hammering and fastening sheets of the reddish-brown metal onto the roof of Copenhagen\u2019s Old Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n

Fifteen months after a devastating fire<\/a> destroyed more than half the building, a multistage effort to restore the 400-year-old landmark is beginning to take shape as workers lay a new copper roof on some of the less-damaged parts. <\/p>\n

Back in February, workers began dismantling what remained of the old green copper roof, before carpenters could replace the wooden boards beneath. Now the coppersmiths are working through the summer to remain on schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe copper work, it\u2019s not sophisticated, but the way it\u2019s done is old school \u2026 we are doing it exactly as it was before,\u201d said Ren\u00e9 Hansen of Danish coppersmith Toft Kobber. He said that only about 35 people have knowledge of such old techniques in Scandinavia.<\/p>\n

A violent fire<\/p>\n

Early in the morning of April 16, 2024, a fire tore through the sprawling red-brick building, largely destroying its copper roof and toppling its distinctive 56-meter (184-foot) spire in the shape of four intertwined dragon tails. Two days later, a large section of the building\u2019s outer wall collapsed inward.<\/p>\n

Construction of the exchange, a major tourist attraction in the heart of the Danish capital, started in 1615 and it first opened in 1624.<\/p>\n

The fire is believed to have started under the roof, which had been wrapped in scaffolding because of renovation work. Police said in November<\/a> that nothing pointed to the blaze being the result of a criminal act. <\/p>\n

The building\u2019s owner, Denmark\u2019s Chamber of Commerce, says it plans to rebuild the landmark by 2029. It aims to reopen the damaged, but not destroyed, Stock Exchange Hall by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ambition is, in December this year, to open one of the floors,\u201d said Lars Daugaard Jepsen, the head of reconstruction. \u201cThat is very, very challenging, but we will make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the huge white construction tent now covering the building comes off, locals are likely to notice at least one big difference. Hansen said that, due to reduced air pollution, it could take 60 to 80 years for the new copper covering to achieve its predecessor\u2019s turquoise hue through the chemical reaction known as patination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are driving electric cars, a lot of people are bicycling,\u201d he said. In the past, \u201cit took about 30 to 40 years before it started to get green, and now we think it will take about 60 to 80.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new spire<\/p>\n

The dragon-tail spire \u2014 a lead-covered wooden construction \u2014 will be rebuilt too, though that is still a while away. Work to design it is due to start next month, and building work is slated to get under way in 2028. A sculptor is still being sought.<\/p>\n

Daugaard Jepsen said the building was rebuilt eight times over its 400 years. The plan now is to rebuild it as it was four centuries ago, with \u201ca more magnificent ballroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aim is to use the same materials that were available in the 17th century. More than 800,000 handmade red bricks have been ordered from Germany and Poland, almost 900 pine trees are being brought from Denmark and Sweden, and recycled copper comes from Finland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the way to rebuild a building like this,\u201d said Daugaard Jepsen. \u201cIn the real way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) \u2014 Balancing on wooden boards, coppersmiths are hammering and fastening sheets of the reddish-brown metal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18250,18251,438,108,26,3871,1162,9117,18249,18252,1161],"class_list":{"0":"post-30434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-copenhagen","8":"tag-accidents","9":"tag-building-collapses","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-copenhagen","12":"tag-denmark","13":"tag-fires","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-jwd-evergreen","16":"tag-lars-daugaard-jepsen","17":"tag-ren-hansen","18":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}