A historic 113-year-old church in Sweden has found a new home and been moved 5 kilometers (3 miles) to allow for the expansion of an underground iron ore mine.

The 672-ton Lutheran (Church of Sweden) church at Kiruna, often voted Sweden's most beautiful building, was lifted onto a convoy of remote-controlled flatbed trailers, DW reported on August 19.

The move was celebrated as a breathtaking engineering feat, but the feelings are not the same for the local Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years.

They warn that the mine's further expansion threatens traditional animal migration routes and fear this will imperil the livelihood of indigenous herders in the area, according to DW.

Thousands watched the move across the landscape.

The church operation in an area often called Lapland came to fruition years ago with a plan to move much of the Arctic town of Kiruna after mining weakened the ground beneath its historic center.

Mine operator LKAB is financing the relocation of the church, estimated at 500 million kronor ($52 million), which required widening the road 15 meters (50 feet) to accommodate the church.

           - THE GREAT CHURCH WALK

Swedish broadcaster SVT live-streamed the spectacle dubbed "The Great Church Walk," with Sweden's 2025 Eurovision musical entry performing.

"The church is Kiruna's soul in some way, and in some way it's a safe place," Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, told Reuters news agency.

"For me, it's like a day of joy. But I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place."

Designed by Swedish architect Gustaf Wickman, the 40 meters (131 feet) tall structure includes designs inspired by the region's indigenous Sami people on the pews.

Kiruna Church progressed along the route at a glacial pace of 0.5 to 1.5 kilometers per hour to (0.31 to 0.93 miles hour) and 0.93.

There were two brief breaks for a traditional Swedish afternoon coffee, according to an Associated Press report carried in the New York Post.

The church was built between the years 1909 and 1912, according to the Kiruna website under the leadership of LKAB's building manager in Kiruna, engineer Bengt Lundgren.

Kiruna Church is shaped like a Sami hut (lavvú), with a wide base and a tapered top.

Sami are the indigenous people in the north.

The light comes in from above because the windows in the lower walls are made of colored glass and only the upper windows are clear.

The church had been called the "sanctuary of the wandering people" and was built specifically to be a gathering place for the entire population of the Kiruna.

Around 3,000 homes and about 6,000 people will need to move as part of the relocation, LKAB said.

The church is now closed for visitors until the opening at the new location at the end of 2026.