Swedish church moving
The 113-year-old Kiruna Church — called Kiruna Kyrka in Swedish, has seen a lot of changes over its lifetime. The incredible church is built of redwood and has many “Swedish” special design flourishes. Kiruna Church is 115ft high, about 150 foot wide and weighs nearly 1500 tons. It was once voted Sweden’s most beautiful pre-1950 building. The building has held up remarkably well, unfortunately the ground beneath it has not done as well. Beneath the oversized building is an iron mine and even though the mine is 500 feet below, the ground under the church had been shifting and the fear was the church would not be able to support itself if sinkholes started to drop. The national law since the church’s founding is that no public buildings can be built above any mines. So the decision was made to move. Robert Ylitalo, chief executive officer of the city, explained: “There’s no risk of people falling through cracks. But fissures would eventually damage the water, electricity and sewage supply. People have to move before the infrastructure fails.” Who you gonna call?
They called “Mammoet” an expert in moving large, heavy objects based in Holland. The iron ore mine’s operator, LKAB – also Kiruna’s biggest employer – is covering the city’s relocation bill, estimated at about $1 billion. The vast red timber structure was reinforced and then hoisted on giant trailers to move over 48 hours to a new site about 3 miles away. It traveled at about 1600 feet per hour through the city. As the short ceremony ended, engines rumbled to life and the massive wooden church began inching forward. Large crowds lined the streets under clear blue skies, watching in awe as the timber structure rolled forward.
“The biggest challenge was preparing the road for such a wide building. We’ve widened it to 24 metres (79ft) and along the way we removed lamp-posts, traffic lights as well as a bridge that was slated for demolition anyway.” Among the onlookers were Lena Edkvist and her husband, who had driven from Gothenburg. “This is part of my tradition, history and culture,” she said. “It feels like an honor that they’re moving it intact instead of dismantling it piece by piece.”
“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 center but there is also sorrow in seeing it leave the ground where it became a church.” The church will be reassembled off the girders and tractors moving it. Swedish television broadcast the entire journey live as “Slow TV,” marking a rare moment when a piece of history does not just survive change – it moves with it.
Mood Movers
I heard Netflix and Yahoo are merging. They are moving their HQ to Jerusalem.
They’ll be known as Net ‘n’ Yahoo.
I’m moving back to my home country now that Trump is elected.
Not by choice either.
How do you know if illegals are moving into the neighborhood?
The Mexicans start buying car insurance.
1st neighbor: “We are going to move and we will be living in a better neighborhood.”
2nd Neighbor: ‘So are we”
1st Neighbor: ‘Oh, Are you going to be moving too.”
2nd Neighbor: “No we are staying right here.”
August 22nd Birthdays
1939 – Valerie Harper, 1960 – Debbi Peterson, 1947 – Cindy Williams, 1974 – Kristen Wiig
1939 – Norman Schwartzkopf, 1958 – Andrea Bocelli, 1964 – Trey Gowdy, 1993 – Keith Powers