As fire tore through downtown Copenhagen’s Old Stock Exchange in mid-April, many people in the Danish capital rushed toward the flames and emerged carrying paintings, sculptures, and other important items from Denmark’s cultural heritage.

Seven weeks on and with about half the 17th-century building destroyed — including its iconic dragon-tail spire — Denmark’s Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said that more than 90% of the building’s cultural objects had been rescued from the fire.

”People from the fire brigade, employees, and volunteers just coming out of the streets were helping to save the artworks,” Engel-Schmidt told The Associated Press in an interview. ”More than 350 artifacts and paintings were saved from the fire.”

Engel-Schmidt said some items couldn’t be saved, including a sculpture too heavy for rescuers to lift, and artworks painted directly on the building’s walls. The sculpture was a copy of work by Danish neo-classicist artist Bertel Thovaldsen of King Christian IV who died in 1648. The monarch is credited for having had the Old Stock Exchange built.

The saved objects are now stored in a modern, air-conditioned National Museum warehouse in Vinge near Frederikssund, about 35 kilometers (22 miles), northwest of Copenhagen. The facility is surrounded by fences, moats, and thick concrete walls.

”Some of the 170 paintings are being restored right now,” Engel-Schmidt said. ”Others are in a very good quality and will be on loan to different museums in the months to come so the public and the Danish people can enjoy them again.”

You can read more in an article by James Brooks published in the startribune.com web site at: http://bit.ly/3xcc9f2.