The Swedish Church was built by the Church of Sweden to cater for the welfare needs of Swedish sailors who visited the port in Narvik. It was completed in 1950 and is thought to have been the world's northernmost such church. As well as a place of worship there were a reading room, library, gym, sauna and workshop plus a residence for the vicar. The sailors came to Narvik aboard ships that loaded iron ore brought down from the mines across the Swedish border in Kiruna.

The main building materials are concrete and bricks. The church has a steep slate roof and tall white rendered concrete walls whilst the lower welfare centre and residence are built in red brick. The church tower is freestanding and clad in dark stained wood.

The church was designed by the Norwegian architect Jan Inga Hovig (1920-1977) in collaboration with the Swedish architect Bo Grefberg.

In 2009 the buildings were given protected status in accordance with the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act. The reasoning for the listing was that the church complex is an important manifestation of economic, social and cultural priorities in both the post war history of Narvik and the country as a whole as well as in recent Norwegian history of architecture.

1948-1950

Bo Grefberg, architect SAR

The Church of Sweden

Church, welfare centre, community centre, vicarage, residence

Concrete, brick, wood