Kiruna is a city in northernmost part of Sweden, and it is a region where the discovery of raw materials often determined the location of settlements, Kiruna included. In 1642, magnetite was found in the town of Masugnsbyn, and at the end of the 17th century, finds were mentioned in Luossavaara and Kirunavaara in present-day Kiruna. However, the site was very inaccessible, so just small quantities of ore could be transported with reindeer sledges, and major mining could be started after the construction of a railway only.
In 1890, the state-owned company LKAB was founded to develop the area, and in the same year the first building was erected here. In 1900 the railway reached Kiruna, and growth and prosperity was eminent. In 1900, Kiruna’s first town plan was designed, and mining grew so fast throughout the 20th century that it has been necessary to move Kiruna a few kilometers away from the iron mines in Kirunavaara to expand mining in former residential areas.
Today, Kiruna is an interesting destination where many arrive to see and experience the midnight sun in summer and the northern lights in winter. There are almost 50 days a year of midnight sun with Kiruna’s northern location, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the extra bright time. You can, for example, follow the Midnattssolstigen hiking route, which starts at the end of the road Stugvägen. It’s a lovely route where, on a stretch of 4.3 kilometers, you get through forest and up onto the mountain of Luossavaara.
From here there is a 360-degree panoramic view of the city and the area, and it is a good place to enjoy the midnight sun, but of course the tour can also be enjoyed at other times. The Northern Lights come similarly in the dark time, when northern Sweden is a good place to see the almost magical phenomenon.
In Kiruna you can also take a walk in the center, which is a modern center due to young town, and to the fact that the center has moved from its original location. Kiruna Kyrko is perhaps the most famous building in the city. It was built in wood in the years 1909-1912 from the design of architect Gustaf Wickman. He designed the stave church-inspired building with an interesting interior. Here you can e.g. see the famous altarpiece created by the painter Prince Eugen of Sweden.
The free-standing bell tower at the church is worth seeing as well, it was built in 1906-1907. In the city, you can also visit the Art Museum in Norr, where there are changing art exhibitions, and the Sámi open-air museum Márkanbáiki in Jukkasjärvi, where you can learn more about Sámi culture.
You can also visit the LKAB visitor center. LKAB stands for Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag, and it is a state-owned Swedish mining stock company founded in 1890. LKAB has developed the mining town of Kiruna, and the company operates the largest underground iron mine in the world, located in Kiruna. Today, the ore is mined with remote-controlled machines and driverless trains, which of course was not the case in the first several years.
In LKAB’s visitor center there is information about the company, and from here you also take a bus down into the iron mine itself. You get to a level 540 meters underground in the mine, where mining today goes further down than 1,300 meters in depth. There are exhibitions, films and machines about and from mining, and at the mining museum there are historical environments and other interesting things that show the development of the mine and thereby Kiruna.
New Kiruna Centrum is the new city centre for Kiruna, which is being built about three kilometres east of the original centre. The decision to move the city was made in 2004 after studies by LKAB showed that the subsoil beneath the old town would gradually become unstable due to the expansion of the iron ore mine under the Kirunavaara mountain. The project represents one of the most extensive urban relocations in modern times and involves the relocation of historic buildings, new construction and the establishment of infrastructure for around 18,000 residents.
The planning of the new centre was carried out through an international architectural competition in 2012, which was won by White Arkitekter in collaboration with Ghilardi + Hellsten Arkitekter from Norway. Their proposal was called Kiruna 4-ever and was selected due to its focus on social sustainability, phased urban development and the integration of nature into the urban structure. The project is based on the principle that the relocation should be gradual, so that the city remains functional throughout the process.
The core of the new center consists of Nya Kiruna Stadshus Kristallen, which was completed in 2018, and around this, new residential areas, shopping areas, schools, hotels and offices are being built. New main streets radiate from here, and new green areas and parks are being created to replace the lost urban environment of the old city center. The city’s older buildings such as Kiruna Kyrka and Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården have been selected to be relocated in line with the expansion of mining operations, so that cultural heritage is preserved.
The first stage of the new center was inaugurated in September 2022, when shops, restaurants and service functions opened. The next phases include the expansion to the east with new residential areas until around 2035, when the entire relocation is expected to be completed. At that time, the old center will be completely abandoned and gradually closed down as the mining area expands. Today, Nya Kiruna Centrum is both a technical and social experiment in urban planning. The project is intended to demonstrate how a city can be relocated without losing its identity, and how industry, culture and sustainability can be combined in an Arctic environment.
Kiruna Church was built between 1909 and 1912 and inaugurated on 8 December 1912. The initiator was Hjalmar Lundbohm, who was the head of LKAB and founder of the city of Kiruna. The architect was Gustaf Wickman, and the construction was led by engineer Bengt Lundgren. The church was financed by LKAB, and the construction costs exceeded the original plan and ended up at around 270,000 Swedish kronor. In 1913, the company transferred the building and the surrounding park to Jukkasjärvi församling, the local congregation.
The building is one of Sweden’s largest wooden churches and a fine example of national romantic architecture. The shape is inspired by Sami kåtor, which are traditional housing and tent structures, and Norwegian stave churches. It has an exterior that slopes up towards the roof in a pyramid-like structure. The construction was made entirely of wood and covered with wood chips. The church has stained glass windows in the lower windows and clear glass in the upper ones to create a vertical light. The altarpiece was made by Prince Eugen, while the sculptor Christian Eriksson created several of the church’s sculptural elements. The interior consists of a large open church room with visible wooden beams and a layout that incorporates both Swedish and Sami design.
Kiruna Kyrka was built on its original location in 1912, slightly west of the historic city center. It has stood there since its inauguration, and it could stand there for over a hundred years. However, the church has to be moved because LKAB’s iron ore quarry under the city has gradually expanded, and the mining is causing deformations and settlement damage in the ground. The area where the church stands will become unstable within a few years, because the cracks in the ground are moving northeast. In order to preserve the building, it has therefore been decided to move it in one piece to a new location in the new city center, which is being built a few kilometers to the east.
The entire church is planned to be lifted onto a steel frame, transported along a specially constructed road and lowered onto a new foundation close to the new cemetery in the city. After the move, the area around the church will be newly landscaped with a park and footpaths. The project is expected to be completed and the church reopened by 2027 at the latest.
Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården is one of Kiruna’s oldest and most historically significant buildings. It was built between 1895 and 1900 as the residence of Hjalmar Lundbohm, the first director of LKAB (Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag) and the city’s founder. The house served as both a private residence, guest house and administrative center in the first decades of Kiruna’s development. The building was built in the oldest part of the city, but like many other historic buildings, it will be moved to Nya Kiruna Centrum due to underground deformations from mining.
The building was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman, who was also behind Kiruna Kyrka, and it was designed as a combination of villa and official residence. It was built in wood and represents national romanticism with inspiration from both Swedish manor architecture and Sami idiom. The house is surrounded by a garden that was originally designed according to Lundbohm’s own wishes, with paths, birch trees and views of the Kirunavaara mountain.
Inside, the courtyard has been preserved with original wood paneling, furniture, fireplaces and wall paintings. Several of the rooms were designed specifically for representative purposes, where Lundbohm received engineers, politicians, artists and geologists who participated in the planning of Kiruna. The building served as a cultural center in the early 1900s and housed a large art collection, where works by, among others, Prince Eugen, Christian Eriksson and Carl Wilhelmson were exhibited.
After Lundbohm’s death in 1926, the property was taken over by LKAB and later by Kiruna Municipality. In the 1980s, it was listed as a listed building, and it was then restored to preserve the interior and construction in its original form. Today, Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården functions as a museum and cultural environment, where visitors can see exhibitions about the city’s founding, geology, industrial history and Lundbohm’s role as both an industrial leader and a cultural figure.
The new Kiruna City Hall, nicknamed Kristallen, is the first large public building in the new Kiruna city center. The building was completed in 2018 and marks the beginning of the relocation of the entire city, which was necessitated by LKAB’s underground iron ore mining, which has made parts of the old city area further west unstable. The city hall was commissioned by Kiruna Municipality and designed by Henning Larsen Architects in collaboration with WSP Sverige and White Arkitekter as consultants.
The building has a cylindrical structure with an outer diameter of about 45 meters and a height of about 35 meters. It consists of five floors around a central, open atrium, where light enters from a large skylight. The facade is clad in glass and anodized aluminum panels in various metallic shades that reflect the changing Arctic light. The name Kristallen refers to both the visual expression and the underlying symbolism of the city’s economic foundation, which is mineral extraction.
The interior layout is organized around the atrium, which functions as a public space and common meeting place. The building houses Kiruna Municipality’s administration, meeting rooms, city council chamber, library and Kin Museum of Contemporary Art, which occupies parts of the upper floors. On the ground floor there is also an exhibition hall, reception and café. The atrium forms the social core of the building, where the floor is made of stone from the region and the walls are clad in light wood to create a robust but simple North Scandinavian character.
A significant element of Kristallen is the bell tower from the old Kiruna Town Hall, which was designed by Artur von Schmalensee in 1958. When the original town hall was demolished in 2019, the tower was saved, restored and rebuilt next to Kristallen as a historical link between the old and new town. It consists of a steel structure with copper cladding and contains 23 bells that are still used on ceremonial occasions. Kristallen today serves as a symbol of the new Kiruna, both as an administrative center and as an architectural marker of a city in transition. It represents the transition from the old industrial society to a modern city.
Kin Museum of Contemporary Art was founded in 2009 as a mobile institution with the aim of presenting contemporary art throughout the Norrbotten region. In 2017, the museum was transformed into a so-called municipal association between Region Norrbotten and Kiruna Municipality, and it was permanently based in 2018 in the new town hall in Kiruna, Kristallen. The museum functions as a regional art institution with responsibility for exhibitions, communication and collection of modern and contemporary art.
The museum’s permanent premises are located in the town hall building Kristallen, which was designed by Henning Larsen Architects. The building consists of a cylindrical structure in glass and concrete, and the museum’s exhibition area is around 1,000 square meters. Inside, the space is organized around an open staircase that connects the five floors. The large glass surfaces provide daylight and visual contact between the exhibition rooms, while the walls are made of white, flexible modules so that they can be adapted to changing exhibitions.
The museum has a special focus on art from the highlands, including works related to Sami culture and Arctic living conditions. It organizes temporary exhibitions, art projects and collaborates with local schools and cultural institutions. The aim is to make contemporary art accessible throughout the region and to create debate about social development, identity and the role of nature in modern culture.
LKAB’s Visitor Center in Kiruna is a unique experience located 540 meters below ground level in the active iron ore mine that has defined Kiruna from the beginning. The center functions as a demonstration mine and educational facility and receives thousands of visitors annually. Transport is by bus from the tourist center in Kiruna town, and the tour leads into the mine’s tunnel system to an exhibition area, where insight into both historical and contemporary mining is provided.
The visitor center covers an area of around 20,000 square meters and includes exhibition rooms, film rooms and machine halls. The exhibitions show the development from the first excavations in the early 1900s to the current automated production. Visitors are shown how the ore is blasted, loaded and transported through underground transport systems for processing. Technical models, work tools and historical photographs are also displayed, documenting the parallel development of the mine and the city.
The architectural design of the visitor center takes into account both safety and functionality. The tunnel rooms are reinforced with shotcrete and steel reinforcement, and the ventilation is dimensioned to handle both industrial equipment and visiting groups. The premises are designed for education and communication with audiovisual installations, interactive screens and rooms where machines are demonstrated in operation. The facility is part of LKAB’s strategy to open the company’s technology and environmental work to the public.
Luossavaara is a low mountain located in the northern part of Kiruna and is one of the city’s most well-known natural attractions. The mountain is about 535 meters above sea level and is surrounded by the original mountain and forest nature that characterized the area before the city was founded. Historically, Luossavaara was exploited for iron ore mining on a small scale, but today the mountain is primarily a recreational area with trails, viewpoints and ski slopes in winter. The area has a special value for Kiruna’s citizens as a place for hiking, cycling and nature experiences with its location close to the city center.
On Luossavaara you will find the Midnight Sun Trail, which is one of the most popular hiking trails in Kiruna. The trail starts near Camp Ripan and stretches for just over four kilometers with an elevation difference of about 225 meters. The hiking trail leads through mountain birch forests and gentle mountain terrain, and there are several information signs along the way describing the area’s flora, fauna, Kiruna’s mining tradition and Sami culture. The trail is marked with wooden signs adorned with a sun symbol and the text Midnattssolstigen, making it easy to follow.
The Midnight Sun Trail provides access to panoramic viewpoints at the top of Luossavaara, where visitors can see both Kiruna city, Kirunavaara mountain and the surrounding Arctic landscape. One of the unique experiences of the trail is the opportunity to experience the midnight sun, which shines continuously from late May to late July. The trail is also used in winter, when snow and ice cover the landscape, and visitors can use snowshoes to make the hike easier.
From the top of Luossavaara there is also an excellent view of Kirunavaara mountain, which is not publicly accessible as a recreational area. Kirunavaara is located west of Kiruna city centre and is closely linked to the city’s industrial and economic history, having been the centre of large-scale iron ore mining since the early 1900s. The mountain contains some of the world’s richest deposits of magnetite ore, and underground mining takes place through both underground tunnels and open pits. The mining operations can also be clearly seen on the mountain and the area around it.
Jukkasjärvi is a town located approximately 18 kilometers east of Kiruna. It is a town with several fine attractions such as the town’s church and the open-air museum Márkanbáiki, which means marketplace in Northern Sami. The place has historically served as a gathering point for Sami from the Torne and Lainiovuoma areas. Here people met to trade, barter goods and exchange news, which especially happened in connection with church gatherings and trade routes along the Torne River. The current Márkanbáiki was established as an open-air museum and cultural center to preserve and communicate Sami cultural heritage.
The museum consists of an outdoor area with reconstructed buildings and facilities that show traditional Sami ways of life. There are, among other things, kåtor, wooden huts, fishing equipment and exhibitions on clothing, crafts and nutrition. There are also reindeer enclosures and trails where visitors can see the animals up close. A central element is Café Sápmi, which serves food based on Sami ingredients such as reindeer, fish and berries. The purpose of Márkanbáiki is to provide a realistic insight into how Sami life has developed in interaction with nature and climate. The museum presents both traditional techniques and modern cultural expressions through art, music and crafts. Architecturally, the area is characterized by small-scale construction, where the materials are wood, stone and grass, and where the facilities are placed directly in the landscape to preserve the natural expression of the area.
Jukkasjärvi Kyrka is one of the oldest preserved wooden churches in Norrbotten. It was originally consecrated in 1608, but the current building dates from 1726, when it was rebuilt and expanded to accommodate the growing church community. The church is built of timber and spruce and stands on a low but stable stone base to protect against moisture and frost.
The architecture is traditional for Sami-Northern Sweden, with a rectangular nave, a simple choir and a small tower with a spire, and it combines elements of the Swedish peasant church style with local woodworking techniques. The roof is covered with tar-treated boards, making it resistant to the harsh Arctic climate. The church is located close to the Torne River, which historically provided easy access for both Sami and Swedish churchgoers via the river.
Many will also recognize ICEHOTEL, which was founded in 1989 in Jukkasjärvi as the world’s first hotel built entirely of ice and snow. The hotel is rebuilt every year from November to April, with 30,000 tons of ice from the Torne River used for walls, furniture and artwork. The hotel consists of bedrooms, suites, bars and art galleries. All of this is created by international artists who work on a new theme each year.
The building is built with a skeleton of snowdrifts and blocks of ice. The walls are 30–50 centimeters thick, providing insulation and stability. The temperature inside is kept between -5°C and -8°C, ensuring that the ice does not melt, while guests are provided with sleeping bags and insulated mattresses for comfort. The hotel also includes an ice bar, where the glasses are made of ice, as well as facilities for concerts, weddings and events.
Tromsø is the largest city and the regional center in Northern Norway. The town’s history started when Håkon Håkonsson built a church on Tromsøya in 1252 to mark the area as Norwegian land. Skansen, which was a medieval castle for protection against attacks from Karelia and Russia, also dates from this time. Tromsø became an ecclesiastical city that attracted people from all over the area to church services, and this brought trade and the need for accommodation, and this led to development of a town and community.
However, Tromsø remained a border town on the Norwegian outskirts, and that only changed when the border between Norway and Russia moved towards the Kola Peninsula. Centuries passed, and when Bergen’s trade monopoly ended in 1789, Tromsø’s trade flourished, but fewer than 100 people still lived in the city. In 1794, Christian VII granted Tromsø city rights, and at the beginning of the 19th century Tromsø became the regional episcopal seat, and a fishing boom started in the city, which was expanded rapidly throughout the 19th century, a development that continues to this day.
Luleå is one of the largest cities in northern Sweden. It is known historically from 1327, when there was a village at the place of present day Gammelstad. The village got a church and a marketplace, and this led to the founding of Luleå by Gustav II Adolf with market town rights in 1621. In 1649, the town was moved to its current location, which happened because the harbor had proven too shallow. However, Luleå was ravaged by fires several times, but it grew slowly through the centuries.
In the middle of the 19th century, there were only approximately 1,400 inhabitants in Luleå. In 1887, large parts of the city were ravaged by a fire, but at the end of the century the railway Malmbanen opened between Gällivare and Luleå, which thereby became a shipping port for iron ore. Hand in hand with general industrialization it created great prosperity in the town, and a spacious urban plan was designed after the 1887 fire with a lot of new construction.
Kiruna, Sweden
Overview of Kiruna
Kiruna is a city in northernmost part of Sweden, and it is a region where the discovery of raw materials often determined the location of settlements, Kiruna included. In 1642, magnetite was found in the town of Masugnsbyn, and at the end of the 17th century, finds were mentioned in Luossavaara and Kirunavaara in present-day Kiruna. However, the site was very inaccessible, so just small quantities of ore could be transported with reindeer sledges, and major mining could be started after the construction of a railway only.
In 1890, the state-owned company LKAB was founded to develop the area, and in the same year the first building was erected here. In 1900 the railway reached Kiruna, and growth and prosperity was eminent. In 1900, Kiruna’s first town plan was designed, and mining grew so fast throughout the 20th century that it has been necessary to move Kiruna a few kilometers away from the iron mines in Kirunavaara to expand mining in former residential areas.
Today, Kiruna is an interesting destination where many arrive to see and experience the midnight sun in summer and the northern lights in winter. There are almost 50 days a year of midnight sun with Kiruna’s northern location, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the extra bright time. You can, for example, follow the Midnattssolstigen hiking route, which starts at the end of the road Stugvägen. It’s a lovely route where, on a stretch of 4.3 kilometers, you get through forest and up onto the mountain of Luossavaara.
About the Kiruna travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
Published: Released soon
Author: Stig Albeck
Publisher: Vamados.com
Language: English
About the travel guide
The Kiruna travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the Swedish city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
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Read more about Kiruna and Sweden
Sweden Travel Guide: https://vamados.com/sweden
City tourism: https://visitkiru-na.se
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