Villages surrounding central Kiruna
(Figures in parenthesis show population on 2007-12-31. Source: Statistics Sweden)
About 10 kilometres directly north of Kiruna lies the village of Kurravaara (269) on the banks of the river Torne. It is a village with a long history. That the end of the 17th century, extraction of copper began at Shangeli, near the Norwegian border. A copper foundry was needed within a reasonable distance and it was placed in Vuolosjoki. It began operations in the year 1700 and was to become Kurravaara, which in recent years has increasingly become a location for people who want to live close to nature and still have a short journey to work in Kiruna.
The biggest concentration of villages near Kiruna is that of
Kauppinen, Laxforsen, Jukkasjärvi and
Poikkijärvi (aggregate population 1020) grouped near and on the banks of the river Torne about 10 kilometres downstream from Kurravaara. A little further downstream we find
Paksuniemi (77).
The tourist destination of Jukkasjärvi
The church in Jukkasjärvi dates right back to 1607 and in 2007, Jukkasjärvi Parish began its celebrations of the first 400 years of the parish. Tourist activities in Jukkasjärvi date back to the mid-1970s, led by Yngve Bergqvist, originally from Jämtland in central Sweden. Rubber rafting on the rapids on the river Torne was a major success. Jukkasjärvi was first and biggest in Europe in this field, and adventure tourism became a concept.
However, the big breakthrough in the village came with the idea of letting people spend the night in an igloo. It was at the end of the 1980s that the people of Jukkasjärvi decided to turn minus into plus - to see winter as an asset. To create experiences from the natural resources available - cold, darkness, ice, snow and the Northern Lights.
The ICEHOTEL story
Inspired by visiting Japanese artists who sculpted in ice, in 1990 the French artist Jannot Derid was invited to exhibit in a specially constructed igloo that had been built in the middle of the frozen river Torne. This 60 square metre building was given the name Artic Hall.
Inquisitive people travelled a long way to see this folly. One night, a couple of overseas guests spent the night in a cylindrical igloo. They slept in sleeping bags on reindeer furs that had been spread out. They talked enthusiastically about the fantastic experience which in their opinion was unrivalled. The Icehotel idea was born. Nowadays, a new Icehotel is built every winter, and is then decorated and ornamented by artists from the whole world, and it has become Sweden's most internationally famous tourist destination, where tourists from all over the world together managed to spend about 15,000 guest nights during the period from mid-December to early April, when the Icehotel closes to melt and return to its origins, the River Torne. In winter 2007, for the first time there will also direct charter flights from England to Kiruna and the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi.
The engineering company JTM Invest also has international operations, with plants in Sri Lanka, Jukkasjärvi and Vittangi. A characteristic of Jukkasjärvi is the enormous number of sled dogs in the area. In Altajärvi (29) too, tourism is a growing activity.