Holy Shift! Sweden´s Kiruna Church Prepares for its Grand, Two-Day Pilgrimage to a New Home

In a truly world-unique event, the iconic Kiruna Church is set to embark on a momentous journey to its new location as part of the ongoing city transformation. The move will unfold over two days, from 19-20 August 2025, promising a spectacular and unforgettable experience for residents and visitors alike.

Kiruna Church

This extraordinary relocation of Kiruna Church is like watching a beloved, ancient ship, steeped in history and community spirit, slowly yet gracefully sail to a new harbour, ready to continue its journey and welcome new generations.

Kiruna's ongoing urban transformation involves the extraordinary relocation of significant parts of the city, leading to its description as 'a city in motion'. This comprehensive transformation, which began planning over two decades ago and has garnered worldwide attention, includes the moving of Kiruna Church as the largest building in the process. The city is repositioning its valuable structures and community life to a new location, ensuring its continued vitality and preserving its rich history.

Recognised as Sweden's most beautiful building and possessing immense cultural-historical value, Kiruna Church, consecrated in 1912, is truly a landmark. Its distinctive architecture harmonises Norwegian stave churches with the Sámi tent shape and National Romantic style. This particular relocation marks the largest building ever to be moved in Kiruna's extensive city transformation, a process planned for over two decades that has garnered global attention. To date, 23 cultural buildings have already been relocated.

The Church on the Move: A Feat of Engineering and Precision

The decision was made to transport the church as a whole, complete building, rather than dismantling it, to preserve its cultural value and integrity. This includes its bell tower, altar piece, organ, and supporting structure. Weighing approximately 600 tonnes (with the bell tower adding another 100 tonnes), the church will be loaded onto a specialised trailer and moved hydraulically.

The move will cover a distance of approximately 5 kilometres along a purpose-built route, 24 metres wide, for which preparatory work has been ongoing for a year. The church is estimated to travel at a stately pace of around 0.5 to 1 kilometre per hour. Veidekke has been entrusted with this monumental task, including the preparation of the route and the new foundation. Every step of the move is being meticulously documented to gather valuable experience for future projects.

A New Home with a Nod to the Past

The church's new home has been carefully chosen in close dialogue with the Kiruna Parish, the municipality, and the county administrative board. It will be situated between the cemetery and the new Kiruna city centre, which is being constructed approximately three kilometres east of the current one. Interestingly, the church's placement at the new site will see its chancel rotated 180 degrees to face west, drawing inspiration from the traditional folk church design where the entrance faces the community. Hjalmar Lundbohm's grave, the founder of Kiruna, will also be moved to the church's new site.