The Great Fire of 1728
Three days
The fire ran from 20 to 23 October 1728 and took nearly half the medieval city with it. The municipal arithmetic afterwards was 1,227 lots and something like 1,600 buildings, which is 28% of Copenhagen, and about 15,000 people with nowhere to sleep out of a population of 70,000. The town hall on Gammeltorv burned in it, which is why that function eventually ended up on Nytorv.
What was lost at the Round Tower
The University library sat above the Church of the Trinity beside the Round Tower, and 35,000 volumes went in the fire. So did instruments and records belonging to Tycho Brahe and Ole Rømer. Denmark lost a working scientific archive in three days, and it is the loss that is hardest to picture, because burned buildings get rebuilt and burned observations do not. The tower itself survived; its history is on the Round Tower page.
What got built back
The execution scaffold on Nytorv was rebuilt in 1728 as an octagonal masonry podium, which tells you something about municipal priorities during a reconstruction. Sixty-seven years later the city burned again, in June 1795, and the town hall on Gammeltorv burned a second time — see the fire of 1795. Twelve years after that the Royal Navy shelled what was left: the bombardment of 1807.
The city that walks you through all of this in ninety minutes starts at Nytorv. See the guided ghost walk.
Frequently asked questions
How much of Copenhagen burned in 1728?
About 28% of the city, 1,227 lots and roughly 1,600 buildings, and 47% of the medieval core. About 15,000 of 70,000 residents were made homeless.
What did the 1728 fire destroy at the Round Tower?
35,000 volumes of the University library, together with instruments and records of Tycho Brahe and Ole Rømer.
Did Copenhagen burn again after 1728?
Yes, on 5 June 1795, when 909 houses were destroyed. See the fire of 1795.