**Historic Relocation: Kiruna's Church Journey Captivates a Community**

In a historic move, Kiruna’s beloved church embarks on a two-day journey to its new home, highlighting a community’s resilience amid necessary change.

A splendid red timber church, standing for over a century, is undergoing a significant relocation in Kiruna, Sweden, due to ground subsidence caused by extensive iron ore mining. The church, a notable landmark since its establishment in 1912, is being transported a distance of 5 kilometers (approximately 3 miles) on specialized rolling platforms, moving slowly at a maximum speed of 500 meters per hour. This remarkable journey started Tuesday morning and is expected to take two days to complete.

The ground fissures resulting from mining activities have rendered the old city center unstable, making this relocation not only a logistical challenge but also a necessary precaution for the community. Culture strategist Sofia Lagerlöf Määttä encapsulated the sentiment surrounding the move, stating, "it's like finally, let's get it done. We've been waiting for so many years."

Stefan Holmblad Johansson, the project manager overseeing the move, emphasized the extensive preparations that have gone into this complex operation. "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," he stated confidently. This assertion reflects years of careful planning and engineering, as other structures in the city have been shifted in recent years, some even intact, whereas others were dismantled and rebuilt.

The relocation is financially backed by LKAB, the mining company that also serves as Kiruna’s biggest employer, with the estimated costs exceeding 10 billion Swedish krona (approximately 1 billion USD or 737 million GBP). With the church weighing 672 tonnes, measuring 35 meters (115 feet) high and 40 meters wide, the move presents significant engineering challenges. Instead of taking the building apart, it will be moved as a single piece, ensuring that both the building's structural integrity and its treasured interior, including an important altar painting, remain protected.

The emotional significance of the relocation resonates deeply within the local community, as the church has long been a cornerstone of spiritual and communal life. Vicar Lena Tjärnberg expressed the bittersweet nature of the situation, acknowledging the church's profound connection to the place it has called home for so long. "We're grateful that we're moving the church with us to the new city center," she remarked, "but there is also sorrow in seeing it leave the ground where it became a church."

As the historic move takes place, local residents, dignitaries, and media, including Swedish television broadcasting the event live, are expected to gather along the route to witness what is not just a relocation, but a pivotal moment of change for a community that thrives amid the challenges of a mining town.