A whole church is on the move in Sweden - at 500 metres a hour
Kiruna Church and its belfry are being moved 5km east to a new city centre as part of the whole town's relocation.
Kiruna sits on the world's largest underground iron-ore mine, which is in danger of collapsing.
Vicar Lena Tjarnberg began the move with a blessing on Tuesday morning after thousands of visitors arrived in Kiruna.
"The last day you go down the stairs and close the church door, you know it's going to be several years before you can open it – and in a new place,' she said. 'We don't know how it's going to feel to open the door.'
In an impressive feat of engineering, the entire church building has been hoisted on to giant rolling platforms to be transported – at a top speed of 500 metres an hour – to its new spot. Its interior has been secured by metal scaffolding, while roads have been widened to accommodate the church on its journey, expected to be completed by Wednesday afternoon.
The church is the most intricate operation of wider project to relocate other town centre buildings at risk of subsidence. It is set to reopen at the new site by the end of next year.
Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost town at 200km beyond the Arctic Circle, is home to 23,000 people, including members of the Sami Indigenous people.
The wooden Lutheran church, called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish, was a gift from mining company LKAB, the town's biggest employer. LKAB is covering the city's relocation bill, thought to exceed 10 billion Swedish krona ($1 billion).
It was voted the 'best building of all time, built before 1950' in a 2001 poll of Swedish people connected to the Ministry of Culture.
Built on a hill so worshippers could overlook the rest of the town, it was designed to emulate the Sami style.
The Kiruna mine dates back to 1910 and the church was completed in 1912.
Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chairman of one of the Sami reindeer-herding organisations in Kiruna, said the new mine could threaten the wild animals' migration routes and affect the livelihood of herders.
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