Alandmark 113-year-old church at risk from ground subsidence is being relocated in its entirety – in a 5 kilometres (three miles) move along a road in Sweden’s far north.
The vast red timber structure in Kiruna dating back to 1912 has been hoisted on giant trailers and is on its way to the new city centre.
Travelling at a maximum speed of 500 metres an hour, the journey is expected to take two days.
The old city centre is at risk from ground fissures after more than a century of iron ore mining. The church’s move is the most spectacular and symbolic moment of the wider relocation of buildings in Kiruna, which lies 145 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.
The journey began with a blessing from the church’s vicar, Lena Tjärnberg, and Bishop Åsa Nyström of the Diocese of Luleå.
As the short ceremony ended, engines rumbled to life and the massive wooden church began inching forward. In the first hour, it managed just 30 metres, the trailers’ wheels slowly turning under its weight.
Large crowds lined the streets under clear blue skies, watching in awe as the timber structure rolled forward. Safety barriers kept people back, but the building passed so close that many said it felt as though they could almost reach out and touch it.
“It’s a big crowd. People came not just from Kiruna and other parts of Sweden. I heard many different languages being spoken,” said culture strategist Sofia Lagerlöf Mättää. “It’s like history taking place in front of our eyes.”
The man in charge of the move, project manager Stefan Holmblad Johansson, said: “It’s a historic event, a very big and complex operation and we don’t have a margin of error. But everything is under control.”
By the mid-2010s, other buildings in Kiruna were already being shifted to safer ground. Most were demolished and rebuilt, but some landmarks were moved intact.
These include buildings in Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården such as the so-called yellow row of three old wooden houses and the former home of mining manager Hjalmar Lundbohm, which was split into three parts.
The clock tower on the roof of the old city hall was also moved and can now be found next to the new city hall. (BBC)
