KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — How do you progress one in every of Sweden’s most beloved wood church buildings down the highway? With just a little little bit of engineering, numerous prayer — and a few Eurovision for good luck.
The Kiruna Church — known as Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish — and its belfry are being moved this week alongside a 5-kilometer (3-mile) route east to a brand new metropolis heart as a part of the city’s relocation. It’s occurring as a result of the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening to swallow the city.
This week, hundreds of holiday makers have descended upon Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost city at 200 kilometers (124 miles) above the Arctic Circle. It is residence to roughly 23,000 inhabitants, together with members of the Sami Indigenous folks, unfold over almost 19,500 sq. kilometers (7,528 sq. toes).
Lena Tjärnberg, the church’s vicar, is ready to kick off the transfer with a blessing on Tuesday morning. The journey is scheduled to finish Wednesday afternoon.
The church was a present from the mining firm
In 2001, the Swedish folks voted the wood church the “finest constructing of all time, constructed earlier than 1950” in a ballot related to the Ministry of Tradition. Constructed on a hill so worshippers may overlook the remainder of Kiruna, the Swedish Lutheran church was designed to emulate the Sami model as a present from LKAB, the state-owned mining firm.
The Kiruna mine itself dates again to 1910 and the church was accomplished in 1912. Its neo-Gothic exterior is taken into account the city’s most distinctive constructing and vacationers recurrently traveled there earlier than it was closed a yr in the past to arrange for the relocation. It is set to reopen within the new location on the finish of 2026.
Tjärnberg stated the ultimate service within the previous spot was bittersweet.
“The final day you go down the steps and shut the church door, it is going to be a number of years earlier than you possibly can open it — and in a brand new place,” she stated. “We do not know the way it is going to really feel to open the door.”
The spectacle
This week’s transfer has was a two-day extremely choreographed media spectacle, run by LKAB and that includes an look by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf. Musical performances will embody a set from KAJ, Sweden’s 2025 Eurovision entry that was the bookies’ favourite to win this yr’s contest however misplaced out to classically educated countertenor JJ of Austria.
SVT, Sweden’s nationwide broadcaster, is capitalizing on the showcase and can livestream the transfer each days, billing it as “The Nice Church Stroll” to play off its success with the spring exhibiting of “The Nice Moose Migration” that has enthralled thousands and thousands of viewers yearly since 2019.
Recognized for each the Midnight Solar and the Northern Lights, Kiruna and the encompassing space is a significant draw year-round for guests to Swedish Lapland. The area additionally options the Aurora Sky Station, the Icehotel and Kebnekaise, the Nordic nation’s highest mountain.
British vacationers Anita and Don Haymes had already trekked to Kiruna twice earlier than this yr’s journey. Once they heard concerning the church’s transfer, they modified their itinerary to make sure they’d be right here for it. They took pictures of it propped up on beams and wheels this week earlier than the transfer.
“It is an incredible feat that they’re doing,” Anita Haymes stated Sunday. “It’s going to be fascinating to see it transferring, unbelievable.”
However not everyone seems to be thrilled about LKAB’s extravaganza. Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chairman of one of many Sami reindeer herding organizations in Kiruna, stated LKAB’s plans for a brand new mine may threaten reindeer migration routes and imperil the livelihood of herders within the space.
The mechanics behind the transfer
The transfer of Kiruna’s city heart, together with the church, has been within the works since 2004. Because the mine expanded deeper underground, residents started seeing cracks in buildings and roads. With a purpose to attain a brand new depth of 1,365 meters (4,478 toes) — and to stop Kiruna from being swallowed up — officers started transferring buildings to a brand new downtown at a secure distance from the mine.
As of July, 25 buildings had been lifted up onto beams and wheeled east. Sixteen, together with the church, stay.
At roughly 40 meters (131 toes) vast with a weight of 672 metric tons (741 tons), the church required additional effort. Engineers widened a significant highway from 9 meters to 24 meters (30 to 79 toes) and dismantled a viaduct to make method for a brand new intersection.
A driver, utilizing a big management field, will pilot the church by the route because it travels roughly 12 hours over Tuesday and Wednesday — with a pause every day for fika, the standard Swedish afternoon espresso break. It is anticipated to maneuver at a various tempo between 0.5 and 1.5 kilometers per hour (0.31 and 0.93 miles per hour).
Stefan Holmblad Johansson, LKAB’s undertaking supervisor for the transfer, wouldn’t say how a lot it has price the mining firm.
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Related Press journalist Pietro De Cristofaro in Kiruna, Sweden, contributed to this report.
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