Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
KIRUNA
BARS, CAFÉS & RESTAURANTS
Kafé Rost
Landströms Kök och Bar
Mommas
Safari
Thai Take Away
Ski Trails
1
4
3
5
2
HÖGALID
ACCOMMODATION
Arctic Eden
Camp Ripan
Gullriset Lägenhetshotell
Kiruna hostel
Scandic Ferrum
Vinterpalatset
Yellow House
3
1
7
6
4
5
2
E R M
Kiruna
Samegård
TA N
AT
A
M O M M A
S S O N G
AT A N
N
Train
Station
Library
Stadshus
Kiruna kyrka
Bus Station
0
200
Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården
A
metres
A
LKAB Iron ore mines
Nikkaluokta &
(see p.343) and Riksgränsen, as well as bus connections into the Torne Valley (see
p.348). Sweden's highest mountain,
Kebnekaise
(2102m), is also within easy reach of
Kiruna. It's accessed from the tiny village of
Nikkaluokta
, the departure point for
ambitious ascents of the peak.
Brief history
When Swedish pioneers first arrived in what is now Kiruna in the early 1600s, they
found the
Sámi
already in place here. Completely ignoring the indigenous
population, the Swedes opened their first mine in 1647 at nearby Masugnsbyn
(“Blast Furnace Village”), but it wasn't until the beginning of the following century
that the
iron-ore
deposits in Kiruna itself were finally discovered. Exploratory
drilling began in the 1880s, which nicely coincided with the building of the
Malmbanan
, the iron-ore railway between Luleå and Narvik in Norway, and the first
train laden with iron ore trundled out from Malmberget in Gällivare in March
1888. In 1900, the settlers braved their first winter in Kiruna, a year which is now
regarded as the town's birthday. Built on a hill to try to keep the temperature up
(warm air rises), Kiruna was planned to withstand the coldest snaps of winter - even
the streets are curved as protection against the biting polar wind. Sadly, though,
much of the wooden architecture of Kiruna's early days, gloriously painted in reds,
greens and yellows, was ripped down to make way for today's unprepossessing
concrete structures; the town even won an award in the 1960s for its out-with-the-
old-in-with-the-new policy.
