Short answers, pulled from the story.
Børsen was built between 1619 and 1640 under the reign of King Christian IV of Denmark. The king commissioned it as part of a plan to strengthen Copenhagen's role as a centre for trade in Northern Europe. The architects were the brothers Lorenz van Steenwinckel and Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger.
On the 16th of April 2024, a fire broke out during renovation work on Børsen's copper roof, destroying about half of the building and collapsing the iconic Dragon Spire. There were no casualties. A section of the north facade and part of the west gable also collapsed on the 18th of April.
The Dragon Spire, known in Danish as the Dragespir, is a twisted spire designed as the intertwined tails of four dragons, reaching a height of 56 metres. It was installed in 1625 and carries three crowns at the top symbolizing the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The original spire was replaced in 1775 with a similar design.
Børsen housed a large collection including Peder Severin Krøyer's 1895 group portrait From Copenhagen Stock Exchange, Thomas Kluge's Handelskammeret, and works by Anton Melbye, Christian Mølsted, and William Scharff. Several hundred pieces were rescued by staff, emergency workers, and passers-by. A two-tonne bust of King Christian IV was among the works lost.
The projected completion date for the reconstruction of Børsen is 2029. Builders are using materials intended to match 17th-century construction: more than 800,000 handmade red bricks ordered from Germany and Poland, nearly 900 pine trees from Denmark and Sweden, and recycled copper from Finland.
Børsen housed the Danish stock market until 1974. The building was sold to Grosserer-Societetet in 1857 by Frederick VII for 70,000 rigsdaler and functioned as an exchange for well over a century before the market relocated.