Børsen has had a changeable existence — from a motley bazaar to a financial centre with some of the city’s finest meeting rooms and offices. The building has been rebuilt and restored many times, but is still one of the best examples of Renaissance architecture. Børsen’s interior in particular has changed appearance and furnishings repeatedly during its 400-year history.

It Began with an Embankment
In 1620, construction was begun of a long building on an embankment facing the Christianshavn quarter. Peasants from the town of Roskilde and Copenhagen’s surrounding area were ordered to drive in four wagon loads of boulders for the embankment’s foundations. The construction work was led by master builder Hans Steenwinckel, and the building’s architecture was inspired by Dutch Renaissance architecture, with sandstone bands and stone figures. Timber and sandstone came from Gotland, and the bricks from Holland.

The King Was the Master of Details
Christian IV followed the building work intently; from the windows of Copenhagen Castle (where Christiansborg lies today) he could follow it at close quarters. But the king wasn’t satisfied with what he saw. The building looked more like a storeroom than a royal building. Christian IV therefore ordered the building of the impressive, sweeping western gable with its rich decoration. In 1625 the twined Dragon’s tail spire rose above the city, after which the roof and façades were adorned with ornamental gables and mansards facing the water.

Hermer og Karyatider
Børsen er udsmykket med 486 forskellige sandstensfigurer – hermer og karyatider, maskefigurer og fordakningshoveder.

Nutidige kunsthistorikere har ivrigt diskuteret den symbolske betydning af den specielle udsmykning. Man har foreslået af hermerne var en del af renæssancens okkulte hermetiske symbolik, eller at hermerne skulle knytte bygningens til den antikke gud Hermes (eller Merkur), som var købmændenes, de handlendes og tyvenes gud.

Uanset betydningen og symbolikken, virker som om, at datidens håndværkere fik en stor grad af kunstnerisk frihed ved udformningen af hermer og karyatiderne. Nogle af figurerne fik glade ansigtsudtryk, andre sørgmodige, vrede og eftertænksomme. Figurerne blev iklædt eksotiske og fremmede klædedragter der gav associationer til fremmede lande og byer, mens flere karyatider blev humoristisk, betænksomt udhugget med bløde puder på hovedet, for at lette trykket fra den tunge vægt fra gesimser og murværk.

All the heads, masks, Herms and Caryatids on Børsen are different. But there are groups with various characteristic expressions. There is, for example, a difference between the original heads from 1624 and those which have since been replaced and reinterpreted in various styles. There are in all 204 Herms and Caryatid figures, 120 masked figures and 162 cornice figures.