Fans of slow TV will have been beside themselves with glee these last few days after a live broadcast showed a church in Sweden being moved in its entirety to a new location.
OK, let’s explain a few things here, as this could be the first time you’ve read about a church — or any large building for that matter — being removed from its foundations and transferred to a new location. Without dismantling a single piece.
The ambitious project took place in the town of Kiruna — 580 miles (about 930 kilometers) north of Stockholm — and was prompted by ground subsidence caused by iron ore mining that rendered parts of the area unstable and unsafe.
“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,” project manager Stefan Holmblad Johansson said in comments reported by the BBC.
Weighing around 740 tons, engineers had to put the 113-year-old church onto a specially built trailer with around 130 wheels before moving it carefully — at a top speed of 0.31 mph (0.5 kph) — to its new resting place some 3 miles (about 5 kilometers) away.
SVT, Sweden’s national public broadcaster, showed the entire move, which took about 18 hours across two days. You can watch the first day — which took around nine hours — in the video at the top of this page. It won’t be the most exciting footage you’ve ever watched, but you may find the journey relaxing — perhaps even meditative. If you understand Swedish, you can even enjoy the live commentary (though of course YouTube also offers an auto-translate feature in multiple languages).
Crowds of people — from local residents to engineering enthusiasts — turned out to witness the church’s leisurely journey to its new location.
“It’s a big crowd,” said culture strategist Sofia Lagerlöf Mättää. “People came not just from Kiruna and other parts of Sweden — I heard many different languages being spoken. It’s like history taking place in front of our eyes.”
The church arrived at its destination — thankfully in one piece — on Wednesday, and will open again to visitors next year.
