What happens when the world’s largest underground iron ore mine threatens to swallow the town? You relocate, of course, starting with the century-old church.
Sweden on Tuesday began two days of relocating one of its most famous wooden churches, moving the 113-year-old Kiruna Church about 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) down the road to a new city center to allow for the expansion of an underground iron ore mine.
The 672-ton Lutheran church, often voted Sweden’s most beautiful building, was lifted onto a convoy of remote-controlled flatbed trailers.
At least 10,000 people are expected to be in attendance for this historic event in the town of 18,000 people to see the church chugging along at a pace of half-a-kilometer an hour.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf will be among the attendees to witness the slow march of the church.
Eurovision sets the tune
The operation is part of a decadeslong project to move much of the Arctic town of Kiruna after mining weakened the ground beneath its historic center.
Mine operator LKAB is financing the relocation of the church estimated at 500 million kronor (€45 million, $52 million), for which it also had to get the roads widened to accommodate the church.
Broadcaster SVT will be streaming the slow-moving spectacle live, calling it “The Great Church Walk,” with Sweden’s 2025 Eurovision entry, KAJ, performing for the crowds.
“The church is Kiruna’s soul in some way, and in some way it’s a safe place,” Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, told Reuters news agency. “For me, it’s like a day of joy. But I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place.”
Designed by Swedish architect Gustaf Wickman, the 40 meters (131 feet) tall structure includes designs inspired by the region’s indigenous Sami people on the pews.
Hindering traditional reindeer migration routes
While the move has been celebrated as an awe-inspiring feat of engineering, the feelings are not the same for the Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years.
They warn that the mine’s further expansion threatens traditional migration routes of the animal and fear this will imperil the livelihood of indigenous herders in the area.
Around 3,000 homes and about 6,000 people will need to move as part of the relocation, LKAB said.
Edited by Sean Sinico
