SWEDISH CHURCH BEING MOVED DOWN THE ROAD

How do you move one of Sweden's most beloved wooden churches down the road? With a little bit of engineering, a lot of prayer — and some Eurovision for good luck.

- 

The Kiruna Church — called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish — and its belfry are being moved this week along a 5-kilometre route east to a new city centre as part of the town's relocation. It's happening because the world's largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening to swallow the town.

This week, thousands of visitors have descended upon Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost town, at 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. It's home to roughly 23,000 inhabitants, including members of the Sami Indigenous people, spread over nearly 19,500 square kilometres.

Lena Tjarnberg, the church's vicar, is set to kick off the move with a blessing on Tuesday morning. The journey is scheduled to end on Wednesday afternoon.

The church was a gift from the mining company.

In 2001, the Swedish people voted the wooden church the “best building of all time, built before 1950” in a poll connected to the Ministry of Culture.

Built on a hill so worshippers could overlook the rest of Kiruna, the Swedish Lutheran church was designed to emulate the Sami style as a gift from LKAB, the state-owned mining company.