Entire 672-tonne Swedish church begins 2-day $1bn journey being moved WHOLE across city to avoid being swallowed by mine
The 113-year-old Kiruna Church is embarking on a two day voyage to its new home, travelling at around 500 metres per hour.
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It has been hoisted onto a vast convoy of trailers
Credit: AFP
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The church's two-day journey began with a blessing from the church's vicar
Credit: AFP
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The church is being moved from the old city centre
Credit: AFP
It has been hoisted onto a vast convoy of trailers as it makes its way through the city of Kiruna in Sweden's far north.
The church is being moved from the old city centre - which is at risk from ground fissures due to iron ore mining - to its new location.
Buildings across the town are being moved to accommodate an expansion of mining operations.
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Swedish law does not allow mining to take place directly under buildings.
Residents had begun to see cracks in buildings and roads as the mine dug deeper, according to Euronews.
The church's two-day journey began with a blessing from the church's vicar, Lena Tjärnberg and Bishop Åsa Nyström of the Diocese of Luleå.
Vast crowds gathered to watch the church take its first steps towards its new home - with the move set to cost 10bn Swedish krona (£737m).
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The 672-tonne church covered 30 metres in the first hour of its voyage, the BBC has reported.
Culture strategist Sofia Lagerlöf Mättää told the broadcaster: "It's a big crowd.
"People came not just from Kiruna and other parts of Sweden. I heard many different languages being spoken.
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"It's like history taking place in front of our eyes."
The 115ft tall Kiruna Church has plenty of history behind it, and was once voted the country's most beautiful pre-1950 building.
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Kiruna itself is Sweden's northernmost city, falling 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
It is home to around 23,000 people, including members of the Sami Indigenous people.
Indeed, the church was designed to emulate a Sami style of architecture.
Mine operator LKAB had to widen a major road in the city to make way for the church's voyage.
Project manager Stefan Holmblad Johansson told the BBC: "We've done so much preparation.
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"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."
Vicar Lena Tjärnberg told the broadcaster: "The church is leaving a place where it truly belongs.
"Everyone knows it has to be relocated. We live in a mining community and depend on the mine.
"I'm grateful that we're moving the church with us to the new city centre but there is also sorrow in seeing it leave the ground where it became a church."
The church is reportedly set to reopen in its new location at the end of next year.
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However, the full relocation of the city centre isn't expected to be done until 2035, according to The Guardian.
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The 115ft tall Kiruna Church has plenty of history behind it
Credit: AFP
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