Church of 672 tons is moved by 5 km in Sweden; See video

There was religious blessing. The trip was started with prayers of Bishop åsa Nyström and Vicaria Lena Tjärnberg. To raise the structure, engineers excavated the ground around and positioned support beams before lifting the building with hydraulic monkeys.

The cost was a millionaire. Only the church’s displacement cost about $ 52 million ($ 285 million). The state mining company LKAB, who commissioned the original construction in 1912 and now funded the change, justified the operation as part of the reallocation project of the entire city.

The transfer is part of a larger plan. Since 2004, Kiruna has been shifted away from the mine after the historic center ground has cracks and sinking risk. In total, about 6,000 residents and 3,000 houses are being moved to a new area, officially inaugurated in 2022.

Not everyone is satisfied. “Perhaps LKAB did not play the atmosphere well when it destroyed the whole city and then organized this big street party for people,” criticized Magnus Fredrikson, a local podcast host. His colleague Alex Johansson also condemned the project. “It’s like saying, ‘Here’s a little piece of space for Kiruna. Now we’ll continue to collect billions,'” he said.

The environmental impact worries. Mining, which already reaches 1,365 meters deep, threatens forests, lakes and reindeer migration routes, fundamental to the subsistence of the Sami indigenous people. Activists warn that expansion can compromise the culture and traditional life of lapony.

Despite criticism, the city celebrated the feat. The “big church walk”, as it was baptized by the local media, ended without incidents, consolidating one of the biggest engineering challenges ever made in the region. Kiruna Kyrka is expected to be reopened to the public at its new address at the end of 2026.