COPENHAGEN: Firefighters in Denmark on Wednesday battled for a second day to extinguish a fire that gutted Copenhagen's historic former stock exchange after working through the night to douse the flames.

Half of the 17th-century Borsen building was burned, and its iconic 54-meter (180-foot) spire tumbled to the ground in the fire that broke out on Tuesday morning, in scenes that shocked the Nordic country.

Emergency services announced the blaze was under control on Tuesday, but it continued to burn in the part of the building that had been undergoing renovation.

On Wednesday morning, firefighters were still battling flames in the damaged part of the building, "where only the exterior walls remain," they wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

They added that they were working to secure the stability of the walls and monitoring undamaged areas. Firefighters predicted they would be battling the blaze for another 24 hours.

The cause of the fire is unknown, and investigators are yet to access the site, one of the capital's oldest and best-known landmarks that holds a vast art collection and houses the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

Located close to the Christiansborg parliament and seat of government, it was commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1619 and 1640. It was the stock exchange until the 1970s.

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