Sweden saves historic Arctic church with massive move away from mine
The Kiruna Church on the move in northern Sweden, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. / Credit: TorbjørnS/Wikimeda (CC BY 4.0)
CNA Newsroom, Aug 20, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Sweden’s beloved Kiruna Church is concluding a carefully choreographed crawl across the Arctic mining town on Wednesday, completing a two-day, 3-mile journey that successfully saved the 113-year-old Lutheran landmark from destruction.
The mammoth move has seen the wooden structure, weighing over 600 tons, transported on specialized trailers traveling at about 1,600 feet per hour.
Located 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden’s far northern Lapland region, Kiruna is not only the northernmost city in Sweden but also sits atop one of the planet’s richest iron ore deposits, which has been mined continuously since the 1890s.
The relocation is part of Kiruna’s broader urban transformation, required because of subsidence — the gradual sinking of the ground triggered by the nearby iron ore mine.
More recently, Europe’s largest deposit of rare earths was located in the area.
*Sweden’s most beautiful building*
Lena Tjärnberg, vicar of the Protestant parish, blessed the beginning of the historic relocation on Monday morning, acknowledging both the necessity and heartbreak of departing the church’s original site after more than a century of ministry.
“The church is leaving from a place where it truly belongs,” Tjärnberg told the BBC, which covered the unprecedented engineering feat.
“Everyone understands that it must be moved: We live in a mining community that depends on the mine.”
The red wooden church — voted Sweden’s most beautiful building constructed before 1950 in a 2001 national poll — was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman between 1909 and 1912 as a gift from LKAB, the state-owned mining company, to the local congregation.
LKAB’s expanding mining operations created the crisis requiring the church’s relocation.
The company announced in 2004 that mining near Kiruna’s city center threatened to damage inhabited areas and infrastructure in the coming decades.
The relocation required extensive engineering preparation spanning eight years and costing an estimated 500 million Swedish kronor ($52 million). Roads along the route were widened to 79 feet, and a viaduct was demolished to accommodate the massive structure measuring 131 feet wide, according to SVT, Sweden’s national broadcaster.
Special attention protected the church’s cultural treasures, particularly the large organ with over 2,000 pipes and Prince Eugen’s art nouveau painting called “The Holy Grove.”
The Kiruna Church interior. Credit: Xauxa Håkan Svensson/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
An estimated 10,000 spectators are gathering to witness the historic move in the town of 18,000 residents, according to Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s leading newspapers.
King Carl XVI Gustaf is expected to attend, visiting the church during its journey and participating in ceremonial events, SVT reported.
*‘Slow TV’ coverage of the move*
The Swedish broadcaster provides live coverage of the entire relocation as “slow TV,” billing it as “The Great Church Move.”
The broader urban transformation affects approximately 3,000 homes, 1,000 workplaces, two schools, the city hospital, two highways, and national rail infrastructure over a 30-year period. About 6,000 residents — representing one-third of urban Kiruna’s population — must be resettled as LKAB continues mining operations.
The Svenska kyrkan (Church of Sweden) parish announced the church is scheduled to reopen to visitors at the end of 2026, following restoration work at its new location near Kiruna’s cemetery and new city center.
The bell tower, moved separately from the church, will be reunited with the main structure.
The relocation has generated protest from within Sweden’s Sami community, with some saying traditional reindeer herding territories have been disrupted by the mining expansion, SVT reported.