Shortly after eight o'clock on Tuesday morning, the gigantic moving procession began to roll, barely noticeable. The 40 by 40 meter large and 672 ton heavy church stands on a trailer with 224 wheels.
During the first turn, men in warning vests and white helmets were seen running around with measuring tapes and checking everything.
It's going so slow that I don't see it moving, commented a man in the audience.
The entire turn took 30 minutes.
"Very smooth"
After another turn and a downhill slope without incidents, the team could pause for lunch.
The construction is behaving exactly as we expected, says Kjell Olovsson, project manager at the main contractor Veidekke.
Also internally, with the church organ's 2,800 embedded pipes and Prince Eugen's large altarpiece "The Holy Grove", it works as intended.
We have equipment in the church that looks at how it moves, and everything looks very good, says Maria Strålberg, cultural environment specialist and sub-project manager.
The church later continued on Lombololeden, where it will stand overnight. The move will resume on Wednesday.
Kees Breedveld, site manager at the company Mammoet, which is responsible for the actual transport, says that they had to take it easy at the beginning of the downhill slope.
When we came out on the straight track, we could increase the speed a bit and drive at about 0.8 kilometers per hour. We expect to be able to do that tomorrow too.
International interest
In the crowd along the route, both Kiruna residents and long-distance guests were crowded. Above all, a lot of German was heard among the visitors, but also a long line of other languages. Before the start, there was a tense but upbeat atmosphere. It was blowing a bit cold but the sun shone over the thousands of people who had gathered.
It feels historic, but not sad - it's nice that we get to keep the church. It's completely incredible, you would never have believed that this move would be possible, says Kiruna resident Greta Kurkkio.
The church was blessed before departure by Lena Tjärnberg, vicar of Kiruna parish, and Åsa Nyström, bishop of Luleå diocese.
Even Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is paying attention to the move.
"The move symbolizes both respect for our common cultural heritage and the importance of the Swedish mining industry, which has built our country rich and strong. Now both things are united," he says in a comment.
The move of Kiruna church is part of the larger city move of Kiruna center, forced by the mining in LKAB's iron ore mine, which affects the ground in the area.
The church was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman (1858-1916) and inaugurated in 1912. It was built on a height in the former city center and is something of a landmark for Kiruna.
The church, barely 40 meters wide and 40 meters long, is one of Sweden's largest wooden buildings and is inspired by Norwegian stave churches and Sami huts. The entire building weighs just over 672 tons.
It was named in 2001 as Sweden's "best building of all time" (built before 1950), in competition with, among other things, the Museum of Work in Norrköping and the City Hall in Stockholm. The nomination took place at the Architecture Day in Stockholm.
