Kiruna

Kiruna counts 1900 as the birth year of the city. The city was founded by LKAB’s first manager Hjalmar Lundbohm, he was a geologist with a strong cultural interest and his vision was that Kiruna would become a model community. Lundbohm enlisted the help of Sweden’s foremost experts in architecture and community planning. One of these experts was the urban planner P O Hallman who gave Kiruna a climate-adapted urban plan, the first in the country. The city was built to stand well against the wind and with a view and proximity to the mining mountain Kiirunavaara.

Right now, a city transformation is ongoing in Kiruna, which means that about a third of the city and about 6,000 people are affected.

New Center

Today, there are no shops left in the old centre,  they have moved into the new city centre, which was inaugurated on 1 September 2022. There you will also find, among other things, the tourist centre, Scandic hotel, city hall, grocery store, restaurants, café, etc. The new Kiruna Center is constantly being developed, but is already incredibly pleasant to stay in.

Today we still talk about “old centre” and “new centre”. When you visit our old center today, you will notice that large parts are cordoned off as these houses are being demolished. When the buildings are moved or demolished, the site is transformed into nice park areas while the mine fence is gradually moved forward.

It is a special feeling to walk in the old center when darkness falls, as it is black in all the apartment windows and business premises. Outside the old center there are, among other things, some cozy accommodation and restaurants. There is local traffic to the new center if you choose to live near the old center

Kiruna municipality has 23,000 inhabitants, of which approx. 18,000 live in central Kiruna. The rest live in one of the 50 villages in the municipality. With its approx. 20,000 km², Kiruna municipality is larger in surface area than 50 of the world’s countries. That gives us almost one square kilometer per person to live on.