Copenhagen and Paris mayors exchange lessons learned after huge fires destroy landmarks
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The mayor of Copenhagen said Thursday that she has been in touch with her Paris counterpart to see what could be learned from the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral in the French capital, after a fire devastated the Danish city’s 400-year-old stock exchange building.
Firefighters were still at the scene two days after a blaze destroyed half of Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange, which dates from 1615, and collapsed its iconic dragon-tail spire.
The Danish Chamber of Commerce, which was headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange and owns the building, has said they want the building to be reconstructed. However, no decision has yet been made about who will finance a reconstruction, a project that would cost millions, if not billions of kroner (dollars) and take years.
Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, the Danish capital’s mayor, told The Associated Press that she had been in touch with Paris mayor Anne Hildago to discuss how the French handled the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral after an April 2019 blaze ravaged the 800-year-old landmark. Its restoration is slated for completion this year.