A fire broke out in his roof today Somerset House, of an arts center in the heart of London, where around 100 firefighters have been deployed to deal with it, the fire service said.

“Fifteen fire engines and 100 firefighters have been dispatched to tackle the blaze at Somerset House”, which is now contained “to a section of the roof of the building”, the fire service said in a post on X.

Videos released on social media showed a thick cloud of smoke rising from the roof of the museum, a historic building dating back to 1796 on the banks of the Thames.

Traffic around the art center will be “disrupted with the intervention of firefighters”, warned the fire service, which said it received the first emergency call at around 12:00 local time (14:00 Greek time).

“Somerset House is now closed due to a fire which has broken out in a small part of the building. All staff and the public are safe,” the center told X.

“London firefighters arrived quickly and we are working closely with them to bring the spread of the fire under control,” he added.

The building was made famous by many movies filmed there, such as “Love Actually” (“Love is…” — 2003), two James Bond movies or even “Sleepy Hollow” (“The Legend of the Headless Horseman” ) by Tim Burton (1999).

“The cause of the fire is still unknown,” the fire service said in a statement.