JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN ®
This past August, engineers in Kiruna, Sweden, pulled off a monumental task. They moved a church from the spot where it had stood for 113 years to a new location 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) away. The undertaking was part of a 30-year project to move 23 buildings out of the city’s center. Kiruna is located near the largest iron mine in Europe. The mine has expanded over time, weakening the ground under the city and putting the church at risk of collapse.
To keep the historic church safe, workers first dug out the ground beneath the building so they could slide metal beams underneath. Then they lifted the beams up onto two rows of trailers that could support the 672-ton structure’s vertical load, or downward force created by its weight. The church was wheeled along at a very slow pace to prevent it from shifting and getting damaged, says Keri Ryan, a civil engineer from the University of Nevada, Reno. The entire process took two days.