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Sweden Begins Moving Kiruna’s 672-Ton Wooden Church 5 Kilometers to Safer Ground

The slow road transfer anchors a yearslong resettlement to shift the town away from land destabilized by the LKAB iron mine.

Overview

  • The 1912 Lutheran landmark sits on a custom 224-wheel trailer and is advancing at roughly 0.5–1.5 km/h along a prepared 5 km route.
  • Thousands gathered as Bishop Åsa Nyström and vicar Lena Tjärnberg offered a blessing, with King Carl XVI Gustaf present and SVT broadcasting live.
  • Crews excavated and reinforced the site with steel beams before lifting the 40-meter-wide structure, and engineers widened roads and removed a viaduct to clear the path.
  • LKAB is financing the operation, with media estimates putting the church move at about 500 million kronor, and the church is slated to reopen at the new site in 2026.
  • The church transfer highlights a broader relocation expected to continue into the 2030s, affecting thousands of residents and drawing concern from Sami herding groups over reindeer routes.