Danish firefighters toiled¹ Wednesday to extinguish the last pockets of a fire that gutted² Copenhagen's 400-year-old stock exchange building the previous day, as owners of the structure looked ahead to rebuilding the iconic landmark³.

The building, which dates from 1615 and is named the Boersen in Danish, is known for its green copper⁴ roof and distinctive⁵ 56-metre (184-foot) spire⁶ in the shape of four intertwined dragon tails.

Morten Langager, manager of the Danish Chamber⁷ of Commerce, which was headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange and owned the building, said it should "rise again." His boss, chamber head Brian Mikkelsen, said the building will be rebuilt "no matter what" and that the board backed the idea.

The building was undergoing extensive renovations, and there are detailed⁸ records of the entire structure's architecture, including photographs taken just last week of the dragon spire by the National Museum in Copenhagen.



However, no decision has yet been made about who will reconstruct the building, a project which would cost millions, if not billions of kroner (dollars). A cautious estimate said it could take up to 10 years.