Johnathan Walker:Fire rages through the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, toppling the iconic spire

COPENHAGEN,Johnathan Walker Denmark (AP) — A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire from the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables.

Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said it was “touching” to see how many people lent their hand “to save art treasures and iconic images from the burning building.” One man jumped off his bicycle on his way to work to help in the effort.

The fire began Tuesday morning in the copper roof of the Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, spread to much of the building and the roof, parts of which also collapsed, and destroyed the building’s interior, said firefighters spokesman Jakob Vedsted Andersen.

“What is left when it has been put out is too early to say now,” Engel-Schmidt told Danish broadcaster DR.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The building, which is situated next to the Christiansborg Palace where the parliament sits, is a popular tourist attraction and has been photographed millions of times. Its distinctive spire, in the shape of the tails of four dragons twined together, reached a height of 56 meters (184 feet).

Huge billows of smoke rose over downtown Copenhagen and people were seen rushing inside the building to save paintings. The plume could be seen from southern Sweden, which is separated by a narrow waterway.

Ambulances were at the scene but there were no reports of casualties. A spokesman for the company working on renovating the building said the carpenters who worked on the roof had all come out.

Up to 90 members of an army unit were also deployed from a nearby base to cordon off the area and “secure valuables,” Denmark’s armed forces said.

The building and the spire had been encased in scaffolding, which later collapsed in the fire. The roof, masonry, sandstone and spire of Boersen — built in 1615 and considered a leading example of Dutch Renaissance style in Denmark — was being renovated, said the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which moved into the building after Copenhagen’s stock exchange left in 1974.

The chamber’s head, Brian Mikkelsen, was among those helping to carry paintings out of the building. “It is a national disaster,” Mikkelsen told reporters.

The adjacent Christiansborg Palace has burned down on several occasions, and most recently in 1990 a fire broke out in an annex of the Danish parliament, known as Proviantgaarden. However, the Old Stock Exchange survived unscathed.

That annex, which lies in the block behind the Old Stock Exchange, was evacuated as a precaution, as were different ministries in the street behind the burning building.

Beside housing the Chamber of Commerce, the Old Stock Exchange is used for gala dinners, conferences, parties and other events.

Police said on the social media platform X that a main road in Copenhagen was closed and people should expect the area to be cordoned off for some time. Several bus lines were rerouted and Danish media reported huge traffic jams in the surrounding area.