Kiruna (Swedish: [ˈkǐːrʉna];[2] Northern Sami: Giron [ˈkiron]; Finnish: Kiiruna [ˈkiːrunɑ]; Meänkieli: Kieruna) is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland.

[8] Soon after the reported finding Swedish senior enforcement officer and cartographer Anders Hackzell mapped the Kiruna area in 1736.

After a significant rebuild, the railway to Gällivare could be used again and iron ore was extracted at Malmberget by Aktiebolaget Gellivare Malmfält (AGM).

King Oscar II only opened the railway line 14 July 1903, preferring summer over winter to travel north.

LKAB appointed Hjalmar Lundbohm, who had finished neither high school nor his geology studies, as local manager in Kiruna.

[13][14][15] Before the design for the settlement had been accepted, houses were built in a disorganized manner with illegal slums similar to those in the other mining town, Malmberget, 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Kiruna.

In return, the mining company LKAB paid for a hospital, fire station, sewerage, roads, a church (opened 1912) and the priest's home.

This meant miners would no longer have to walk several kilometres through the sub-arctic cold, nor would they need to climb a hundred meters up the mining hill.

The city line had a maximum length of 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) and was unique due to the 1-meter gauge, double-glazed windows and heated wagons.

Production dropped to a minimum in 1922 and a three-day work week was introduced, but during the fabulous twenties, it increased to a record nine million tonnes in 1927.

[17] In the early 1920s a movement that became known as "Kirunasvenskarna" (the Kiruna Swedes) decided to emigrate to Soviet Russia, the land where they hoped for better working conditions and higher wages and general standards.

In March 1940, Churchill requested permission to transport soldiers from Narvik in Norway to Finland via Kiruna and Haparanda in Operation Catherine.

Out of fear that the presence of British soldiers near the Kiruna ore mine would provoke a German attack on Sweden, the request was declined.

[19] Despite the conditions for Swedish neutrality, rail cars with food, skis and helmets were transported from Kiruna to the Norwegian soldiers in Bjørnfjell.

Despite being strictly against the rules, there was considerable interaction between the German soldiers and the Swedish locals, including trading and football matches.

However, small-scale sabotage, such as sand in the engines, was common and loose weapons often ended up at the bottom of the Luossajärvi lake, next to the railway stop.

The canoe club Kiruna Långfärdspaddlare was founded in 1972 and rafting for tourists restarted after it had been discontinued for 20 years due to the drowning of Valfrid Johansson.

It had been built using techniques from the building of Malmbanan 90 years before and was also inspired by the Snow Festival, that had started in 1986 to celebrate the Swedish Viking satellite.

[27] The re-development of Kiruna is a reconstruction project, as the Kirunavaara mine, run by LKAB, undermines the existing town centre.

In June 2010, the municipal council decided that the town would be moved eastwards (to 67°51′1″N 20°18′2″E / 67.85028°N 20.30056°E / 67.85028; 20.30056), in the direction of Tuolluvaara, instead of the proposed northwestern location.

[36] Together with researchers from Luleå and Delft universities, it envisages a denser city centre with a greater focus on sustainability, green and blue infrastructure, pedestrians, and public transport rather than automobiles.

[37] In 2018, the Swedish government announced that it would help arrange replacement work for radio corporation Radiotjänst after the city had been moved from its original location.

[38] Starting in 2013, Danish explorer and photographer Klaus Thymann began a long-term project documenting the resettlement of the town.

To the west is Nikkaluokta and to the northwest are Abisko, Björkliden, Riksgränsen and the Norwegian town of Narvik, 180 kilometres (110 mi) via the road.

Around 15 km east of Kiruna is a group of villages at the Torne River, most notably Jukkasjärvi, where an ice hotel is built each winter, attracting tourists from all over the world.

Being located 145 km (90 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, Kiruna has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with short, mild summers and long, cold winters, although the city itself can be considerably milder than the surrounding forest.

Similar winter temperatures go as far south as below the 45th parallel in the Russian Far East as well as the interior upper Midwest and northern New England in the United States.

As with most of Northern Sweden the area is rich with Magnetite which is mined to produce various Iron ore products which are then transported by rail to Narvik port in Norway to be shipped to customers around the world.

The long and certain snow cover, which generally lasts from October to May, and frozen lakes and rivers facilitate cross-country and alpine skiing, dog sledding and snowmobiling.

The annual Snow Festival is held over the last weekend of January[54] and includes scooter jumping, reindeer racing and an ice sculpture contest.