Sweden Transports Century-Old Church Across Town to Escape Mine Expansion

"Between August 19 and 20, 2025, thousands of spectators watched as one of Sweden's largest wooden buildings was lifted onto beams and wheeled across town. The Kiruna Church, constructed between 1909 and 1912, was designed to echo the form of a Sámi hut in Sweden's far northern region, within the Arctic Circle. The building was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman, who served as the church's architect at the time, and combines elements of Gothic Revival with an Art Nouveau altar."

"Kiruna is home to the world's largest underground iron ore mine, which opened in 1898 and remains in operation today. As mining activities compromise land stability, the city has been gradually moved eastwards since 2004. This process involved relocating, demolishing, and constructing buildings and culminated in the unveiling of a new town center on September 1, 2022. Mining weakens the ground, creating risks of subsidence and structural collapse."

"Kiruna also holds cultural and historical significance as part of Sápmi, the traditional homeland of the Sámi people, which extends beyond the national border and whose culture informed the design of the church. The Swedish Lutheran church was offered to the town by LKAB, the state-owned mining company, and built on a hill overlooking Kiruna. In 2001, the church was named one of Sweden's most beautiful buildings and voted by the Swedish public as the country's most popular building."

Between August 19 and 20, 2025, Kiruna Church was lifted onto beams and wheeled across town before thousands of spectators to a new site between the cemetery and the new city center. The wooden church, built 1909–1912 and designed by Gustaf Wickman to echo a Sámi hut, combines Gothic Revival elements with an Art Nouveau altar. The move was undertaken to prevent damage from expansion of the nearby underground iron ore mine. Kiruna houses the world's largest underground iron ore mine, opened in 1898, and the city has been relocated eastwards since 2004 because mining weakens the ground and creates subsidence risks. LKAB coordinated the two-day, five-kilometer relocation; the church was the largest of 16 remaining original-location buildings moved, while 25 others had been relocated after mining-induced cracks appeared in roads and structures.

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