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Kiruna

Coordinates: 67°51′N 20°13′E / 67.850°N 20.217°E / 67.850; 20.217
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Kiruna
Kiruna
Kiruna
CountrySweden
MunicipalityKiruna Municipality
CountyNorrbotten County
ProvinceLapland
Charter1948
Area
[1]
 • Total15.92 km2 (6.15 sq mi)
Population
 (2005-12-31)[1]
 • Total18,154
 • Density1,140/km2 (3,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Websitekiruna.se
View from just outside Kiruna, with European route E10 left to Luleå and right to Narvik, Norway.
Kiruna city hall in summer.
The church in Kiruna.
The Ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi.

Kiruna is the northernmost city of Sweden, situated in Lappland province, with roughly 18,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (pop. 23,235), Norrbotten County.

The name Kiruna comes from the Sami language Giron and means ptarmigan, a white bird native to northern areas. This bird is also depicted on the city arms, together with the sign for Iron. Iron symbolizes the mining industry which has been of great importance for the town.

Geography

Kiruna became a Swedish city in 1948, and was at one time listed as the largest city in the world by area,[citation needed] even if most of its territory of course was non-urban. After the Swedish municipality reform in the 1970s, the term "city" has been legally discontinued. Today only the built-up area is considered a de facto city.

Being located 145 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, Kiruna has perpetual daylight, the midnight sun, approximately from 30 May to 15 July. The polar night is a few weeks shorter, lasting December 13 – January 5.

Transportations are reliable by road (European route E10), rail and air via Kiruna Airport.

Industry

Iron ore extraction is a key industry of the area, and the town is very dependent on the mining company LKAB. During World War II, large quantities of iron were transported from northern Sweden by rail to the east coast, and further down to be sold to Germany. (See Swedish iron ore during World War II).

In recent years attempts have been made to reduce the area's dependence on mining with initiatives to promote science, R&D and government related activities. Initiatives have included the proposed relocation of the Swedish Space Corporation and the establishment of the Environment and Space Research Institute (Miljö- och rymdforskningsinstitutet); the former was never executed and the latter was essentially only a temporary success.

The ESTRACK Kiruna Station of ESA, the European Space Agency, is located in the municipality. So is Esrange, the European Space and Sounding Rocket Range, as well as an EISCAT station.

In 2007, the Swedish government announced that Kiruna would be the host of Spaceport Sweden [1], signing an agreement with Virgin Galactic [2].

Moving the town

In 2004, it was decided that the present centre of the municipality (N67°49'48'', E20°25'48'') must be relocated to counter mining related subsidence. The relocation will be made gradually over the coming decade. On January 8, 2007, the new location was decided. Kiruna will gradually move northwest to the foot of the Luossavaara mountain, by the lake of Luossajärvi.[2]

The first actual work on moving the town was done in November 2007, when work on the new main sewage pipe started.[3] In the same week, first sketches for the layout of the new part of the town became available. [4] The sketches [3] include a travel centre, the new locations for the city hall and the church, an artificial lake and an extension of the Luossavaara hill into the city. The location of the new section of the E10 is still uncertain, as is the location of the railway and the railway station.

A more official sketch will be published early in spring 2008, which will then be discussed with various interest groups for a next version.

Most of the buildings in Kiruna will simply be torn down and rebuilt at the target site. However, the Kiruna city hall, the most architecturally significant building in Kiruna, will be cut into four parts, each of which will be transported whole to the target site and reassembled there. The move will require an extremely flat road tens of metres wide and will be extremely slow.

Sights

In the village of Jukkasjärvi there is an Ice hotel, a proper hotel wholly built of ice, and reconstructed every year.

The church in Kiruna from 1912 is also notable, one of Sweden's largest wooden buildings. The church exterior is built in an Neo Gothic style, while the altar is in Art Nouveau. It has separately been voted Sweden's best looking church and the foremost Swedish pre-1950 construction.

Notable residents

Twin cities

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005" (xls) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  2. ^ TT (2007-01-08). "Klart med Kirunas flytt". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 2007-01-08.
  3. ^ Jessica Rosengren (2007-11-23). "Kirunaflytten är igång". Norrländska Socialdemokraten, (in Swedish). Retrieved 2007-11-25.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  4. ^ Jessica Rosengren (2007-11-23). "Nu finns det skiss över nya Kiruna". Norrländska Socialdemokraten, (in Swedish). Retrieved 2007-11-25.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kiruna.

67°51′N 20°13′E / 67.850°N 20.217°E / 67.850; 20.217

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