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54m ago

Kiruna’s 113-Year-Old Wooden Church Set for Two-Day, 5-Kilometer Move to New City Center

The move anchors a long-planned effort to protect Kiruna from ground subsidence caused by the expanding iron‑ore mine.

Beams placed on an wheeled structure support the Kiruna Church, a Sami style wooden Swedish Lutheran church, called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish, in Kiruna, Sweden, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, a day before it will be moved along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) route east to a new city center as part of the town's relocation.(AP Photo/Malin Haarala)
Kiruna's historic wooden church sits on wheels before being moved to its new site next to the cemetery, in Kiruna, Sweden August 17, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
People look at the Kiruna Church, a Sami style wooden Swedish Lutheran church, called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish, in Kiruna, Sweden, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, a day before it will be moved along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) route east to a new city center as part of the town's relocation.(AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

Overview

  • The two-day, 5-kilometer relocation is slated to run from Tuesday morning to Wednesday afternoon at 0.5–1.5 km/h, beginning with a vicar’s blessing, an SVT livestream and a planned appearance by King Carl XVI Gustaf.
  • Engineers jacked the approximately 672‑metric‑ton, 40‑meter‑wide structure onto a custom trailer, widened a major road from 9 to 24 meters and dismantled a viaduct to clear the route, with a driver piloting the load via a control box.
  • The church, closed for a year to prepare for the move, is scheduled to reopen at its new site at the end of 2026.
  • The relocation is part of a decades-long plan linked to the mine’s expansion, requiring the move of about 3,000 homes and 6,000 residents; by July, 25 buildings had been shifted, 16 remain and officials estimate roughly 10 years of work left.
  • LKAB supplies about 80% of the iron ore mined in Europe, and the nearby Per Geijer rare-earth project holds EU Strategic Project status, while Sami leaders warn further mining could sever reindeer migration routes and threaten herding livelihoods.