Watch live: Sweden’s historic 600-tonne Kiruna Church begins move to new home

WorldArchitecture
19 Aug 2025 • 7:39 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

image is not available

Watch live as an entire church in Sweden begins its move to its new home on Tuesday, 19 August.

Kiruna Church is being relocated to save it from ground subsidence and the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine.

The move is part of a 30-year project to relocate thousands of people and buildings from the city in the country's far north.

Footage shows the 600-tonne, 113-year-old church slowly moving down a road after it was lifted from its foundations and onto a specially built trailer.

Mine operator LKAB has spent the last year widening the road for the journey.

The red-painted church, one of Sweden's largest wooden structures and often voted its most beautiful, will travel 5km (3 miles) to a brand-new Kiruna city centre at a speed of 500 metres per hour.

People have lined the streets to watch the structure slowly move towards its new home.

Read More