One of Sweden’s most famous wooden churches is being moved to a new site – to prevent it from being swallowed by the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine.
The Kiruna Church, called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish, and its belfry, are being moved this week along a three-mile route east to a new city centre.
They are the latest buildings to be moved from the current location of Kiruna – Sweden’s northernmost city, which is around 124 miles inside the Arctic Circle.
The city has a population of around 23,000 people, including members of the Indigenous Sami community, living across an area of nearly 7,528 square miles.
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This week, thousands of visitors have descended upon the city to watch and take part in the moving of the church.
The church’s vicar, Lena Tjarnberg, kicked off the move with a blessing on Tuesday morning. The move is expected to take until Wednesday afternoon.
The relocation of the church has become a meticulously planned two-day media event, organised by LKAB, the state-owned mining company, and highlighted by an appearance from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf.
It will feature a music show, including a performance by KAJ, Sweden’s 2025 Eurovision representative, who had been the bookmakers’ top pick to win this year’s competition, but finished fourth behind Austria, Israel and Estonia.
Stefan Holmblad Johansson, LKAB’s project manager for the move, would not say how much the move had cost the mining company.
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Famous for its Midnight Sun and Northern Lights, Kiruna and its surrounding region attract visitors to Swedish Lapland throughout the entire year.
The move of Kiruna’s centre, including the church, has been in the works since 2004. As the nearby mine expanded deeper underground, residents began seeing cracks in buildings and roads.
In order to reach a new depth of 1,365 meters (4,478 feet) – and to prevent Kiruna from being swallowed up – officials began moving buildings to a new downtown at a safe distance from the mine.
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As of July, 25 buildings had been lifted onto beams and wheeled east. Sixteen, including the church, remain.
The Sami reindeer herding organisations in Kiruna have warned that a new mine could threaten reindeer migration routes and imperil the livelihood of herders in the area.
