• What to know if you go

Chris Hunt/Staff (ENLARGE)

Though less than a half-inch in diameter, iron ore pellets are big business for Kiruna, home to the world's largest underground mine. LKAB sells its iron ore products to European steel mills and other markets around the world.

Betty Gordon/Staff (ENLARGE)

Kiruna's church dates to 1912, when LKAB mine made a gift of the wooden building to the town. Its architecture is based on a Sami hut. In 2001, it was voted the most beautiful building in Sweden.

Betty Gordon/Staff (ENLARGE)

A continuous mural measuring 16 1/2 by 171 1/2 feet on the side of a three-story brick building sums up Kiruna's history. The left section (above) honors the Sami, indigenous people who are nomadic reindeer herders. The middle shows the industrial side, including mine jobs (it even shows a strike that began in 1969). On the right, Kiruna expands its options, with a focus on tourism and space adventure as ways to attract revenue.

Betty Gordon/Staff (ENLARGE)

Sven-Ivan Mella grows shiitake mushrooms in disused office space at LKAB mine. He also gives tours to small groups of people. Mella was an electrician and software writer for LKAB, where he worked for 50 years.

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Kiruna, Sweden — More than 2,500 feet underground at the LKAB mine, thousands of pounds of iron ore are blasted and excavated daily, then transported by train to be refined into pellets in an operation that continues around the clock, seven days a week, in this city 124 miles above the Arctic Circle.

About 1,700 feet below the surface is a mining operation of another kind, one that's much more delicate and immensely quieter. In a set of disused offices, shiitake mushrooms are being grown by a retired electrician and software writer.

Sven-Ivan Mella, who put in 50 years working for LKAB, cultivates the shiitakes in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. His business isn't as active as it once was — his mushrooms were served at the 1992 Nobel Prize banquet in Stockholm — but he was enthusiastic about sharing his story, the history of the mine and the growth of Kiruna when I visited in May.

LKAB gives tours of its massive site in Swedish, English and German, but the minimum number required is 10. On the day I had planned to take the tour, I was the only English speaker interested. I had been e-mailing the tourism bureau for several months to see if anyone else had signed up, and the bureau alerted me to Mella's mushrooms (also noted in several guidebooks) and his tours for smaller groups.

Judging from the LKAB InfoMine brochure, I got a decidedly different tour — no film and slide show in a large auditorium or a look at the rock gallery or cafeteria. What I experienced was three hours of one-on-one information, plus an explanation of how the idea of growing shiitakes came about.

On a gray, rainy day with the temperature hovering in the low 30s, and with a lot of snow on the ground, Mella picked me up at my hotel in his minivan and drove to the mine. Our first stop was a colorful mural measuring 16 1/2 feet tall by 171 1/2 feet wide on the side of a three-story brick building — Kiruna's history in a nutshell.

The artwork took two years to complete and was painted by two women from the late 1970s to 1981, when mine operations were becoming increasingly automated and people were losing their jobs. Open-pit mining began in the late 1890s and continued for 60 years before the operation moved underground. In that period, 209 million tons of ore were extracted; with mechanization, the output is about 35 million tons of crude ore annually from Kiruna, the world's largest underground mine, and its sister operation in Malmberget.

The left panel pays tribute to the Sami, the indigenous people formerly called Lapps, who lived off the land and were nomadic reindeer herders, a practice that continues to this day. In an idyllic scene, tall green pines, mountains, several sky-blue lakes (one heavily populated with fish), a Sami kneeling before a stone statue, a reindeer and other animals appear. Also represented is a church completed in 1607 in Jukkasjärvi (11 miles east of Kiruna), which is better known these days as the home of the Ice Hotel.

In the middle section, log cabins, the all-important railway, and at the bottom, a strip of male figures illustrating the manual jobs in the mine (including surveying and loading ore into carts) are joined by a modern downtown, tall buildings, bulldozers and drilling machines. Even the 57-day strike that started at the end of 1969 is referenced, as dozens of picket-carrying workers emerge from the mine.

Hovering above it all, sandwiched in the center between terraced sections of the mine, is the bearded likeness of Hjalmar Lundbohm, the first managing director, who is still spoken of in reverential tones by some in town. A geologist, he was a Renaissance man who counted among his friends author Rudyard Kipling (he called Lundbohm "the uncrowned king of Lapland") and Sweden's Prince Eugen. Lundbohm is also credited with founding Kiruna in 1900.

The state-owned LKAB estimates that the mine, which contains the world's largest single iron ore deposit — 2.5 miles long, averaging 264 feet thick and reaching a depth of 1.24 miles — has perhaps 800 million more tons available and will produce for several more decades. But even mine and city officials admit that for Kiruna to stay vital, it must continue to diversify.

Those efforts are highlighted in the last panel, where tourism and space exploration are introduced. Hikers, a snow-skier and paraglider share space with a satellite dish, rocket, spacecraft and airplane plus the mountains and traffic.

In fact, though around 24,000 live in Kiruna, only 1,700 or so are employed by the mine. One of the largest municipalities in the world, it covers almost 8,000 square miles, about half the size of Switzerland. Companies such as Boeing, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz have done cold-weather testing here, and Esrange, Europe's only non-military space center, has been launching rockets since 1966, studying ozone- layer depletion and conducting other scientific research. Esrange is 25 miles east of town, and visitors can take tours in the summer.

In February, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic announced that Kiruna would be the first European base to launch citizen-space travelers into suborbital space by 2012. One of the selling points for the winter launches is a chance to fly near the aurora borealis — northern lights — that can be seen in Kiruna from about October to March. The cost? A mere $206,000 for a two-hour flight.

Less expensive winter tourism options include skiing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, horseback riding, visiting with Sami herders and their reindeer, ice fishing and staying at the Ice Hotel, which is constructed every fall out of ice and snow. By the end of April, it's melted.

In summer, climbing 6,986-foot Mount Kebnekaise (Sweden's highest), hiking in national parks, fishing, hunting, riding the rapids, biking, rock climbing, a trip to an elk farm and golfing are some of the activities available in an area that many call the last wilderness in Europe. Visitors from the end of May through mid-July have the added plus of 24 hours of daylight, the fabled midnight sun.

Large-scale excavation has presented Kiruna with an unusual problem. As The Washington Post reported in February, 100 years of digging out ore has led to cracks developing in the mine wall, which means parts of the city could collapse. The Post said that the town council voted to move some of the city 1.25 to 2.5 miles northwest. This includes building a new railway and making plans to shift hundreds of people and their homes by 2013. The city hall, the 95-year-old Kiruna kyrka (church) and other buildings will have to be relocated by 2050. Vice Mayor Hans Swedell told the Post that 2099 was the target date to have the multibillion-dollar project finished.

With my head (and notebook) filled with Kiruna facts, I was eager to venture into the mine, which has 248 miles of paved road, all with route numbers. Mella drove the minivan in and we began a gradual descent. There is no interior lighting, just reflectors on the walls and the headlights of oncoming traffic. So when you look backward, it's absolutely pitch black. Pipes bring in fresh water, fans circulate the air and miles of cable throughout enable the high-tech systems to run from control rooms. Your cellphone will even be usable, Mella said.

We stopped briefly in a section that looked like a workshop, where a three-bore driller was at rest. I climbed into the cab for a closer look. Even this enormous machine is run by remote control, Mella said. A driver positions it but then walks away.

Back in the minivan, we slowly made our way to the former office space where the mushrooms grow. I sat at a low table while Mella used diagrams and pictures to explain that blasting is done nightly at 1:30 a.m. ("some areas of town can feel the vibration"), with each segment producing 10,000 tons of rock. A front-end loader carries the rock to a shaft and dumps it where an underground train is waiting, again, all remote-controlled.

At surface level, other steps include crushing the ore; separating the iron, copper and waste rock; and making the demagnetized iron into deep blue-gray pellets (a nifty souvenir), one of the products that LKAB exports to European steel mills and markets in North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Sweden is the largest exporter of iron ore in the European Union.

Mella also showed me a book of vintage Kiruna pictures. Think of black-and-white photographs of gold-rush boom towns: the hulking trains, unsmiling workers with shovels and other tools laying rails or standing atop them, and few women, and you'll realize how much this area shared with American settlements around the same time in history.

At Malmberget, about 46 miles southeast of Kiruna and also owned now by LKAB, mine director Lundbohm had seen how a boom town could deteriorate into a shanty town, and he was determined that this not happen to Kiruna. So he took note of ideas of leading social theorists and urban planners so that the orderly development of Kiruna was ensured.

Finally, Mella showed me a photo album that was presented to him from his trip to Takikawa, Japan, in 1988. He had been part of a group at a symposium on the island of Hokkaido that discussed what happened in Kiruna when there had been large-scale layoffs at the mine. His hosts had shown him their shiitake mushroom farm, which provided Mella's light-bulb moment.

Back in Kiruna, he made an informal proposal to mine officials, who allowed him to set up his solo operation. A Finnish connection supplied the alder wood, spawn and some technical advice, and within six months, the first crop was ready, Mella said. He made the cultivation sound easy, saying several times, "Mushrooms teach me everything." At its height, Mella was producing 220 pounds of shiitakes per week. He still sells to grocery stores and restaurants but only about 44 pounds a week because at 70, Mella wants to slow down.

One log of the brown-capped mushrooms had fruited, and Mella sliced them quickly onto a net. He insisted that I take them, saying that they would keep for two weeks in a brown paper bag. I started to explain that I couldn't import fresh fruit or vegetables into the United States, then stopped and remembered that I would be staying for several more nights at my friends' house north of Stockholm. I paid him about $3 for 3 1/2 ounces, and he handed me a recipe along with the shiitakes.

Four nights later, my friends and I had richly flavored fresh shiitake mushroom soup as our first dinner course. It was a perfect dish to savor on my last night in Sweden.

Cream of Shiitake Mushroom Soup

6 servings

Hands on: 15 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

4 1/3 cups water

3 1/2 ounces fresh (or .35 ounces dried) shiitake mushrooms

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion, such as Vidalia

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules (or cubes)

3/4 cup heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Fresh parsley for garnish, optional

In a large saucepan over high heat, bring water to a boil. While water is heating, coarsely chop fresh shiitakes (or crumble mushrooms, if using dried) and chop onions. When water has boiled, add bouillon and stir to dissolve. Add mushrooms and onion. Simmer and stir occasionally for 20 minutes for fresh mushrooms, 30 minutes for dried. Remove from heat for 10 minutes. Slowly add cream to mixture and stir to combine. Reheat soup and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.

Per serving: 158 calories (percent of calories from fat, 60), 2 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 11 grams fat (7 grams saturated), 41 milligrams cholesterol, 138 milligrams sodium.

IF YOU GO

No U.S. airline flies nonstop from Atlanta to Stockholm, Sweden. Among the carriers, Delta flies via Paris, Continental via Newark, N.J., and SAS via Chicago. I flew SAS and paid $830. For summer, fares start around $1,100. From Stockholm for the 90-minute, 840-mile flight to Kiruna, I also flew SAS (about $250; www.sas.se). FlyNordic (www.flynordic.com) also does the route. An overnight train also makes the 16-hour trip (www.connex.se).

What to see

• LKAB mine tour and shiitake mushrooms with Sven-Ivan Mella. About $30. No children under 12. Wear warm clothing. 011-46-980-124-17. LKAB InfoMine tour: Book through the Kiruna Lappland Tourist Office (info below). English tours at 3 p.m., minimum of 10. About $35. www.lkab.com.

• Kiruna's church. This distinctive, deep-red wooden building was inspired by the shape of a Sami hut. In 2001, the church was voted Sweden's most beautiful building. LKAB paid for the church, completed in 1912. It has 12 golden statues around the exterior that are intended to depict frames of mind such as prayer. The altarpiece, a "lyrical picture of heavenly beauty," was painted by Prince Eugen. Hjalmar Lundbohm, who never married and had no children, is buried on the grounds. His monument reads: "A man of civic virtue, a humanitarian and lover of beauty. B 1855-D 1926. To the benefit of the nation he laid bare the treasures of the mountain and founded this town." Kyrkogatan 8, 011-46-980-678-00.

• Hjalmar Lundbohms-gården. This was Lundbohm's home and the second house to be built in Kiruna. The foyer is the oldest section, dating to 1885. Sections were added in 1898, 1900, 1903 and 1910. The house is mostly used for meetings nowadays; few of Lundbohm's belongings are displayed. What visitors will see are about 200 black-and-white framed photos over two floors that show the early days of Kiruna and the mine and Lundbohm and his artistic friends. About $3 for the self-guided tour reading plastic-protected sheets of paper identifying the people in the photos. Ingenjörsgatan 1. 011-46-980-701-10.

• Samegården is a low-key, small Sami museum. $3. During busier seasons, perhaps the front door is open. I went around to the back, found an open door and took the stairs to the museum. The door was locked. I retraced my steps and found a man who said the woman with the keys was cleaning the hotel. She let me in. The Sami population, which spans parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, totals about 70,000, with only about 10,000 active in reindeer husbandry. About 20,000 Sami live in Sweden. The Sami have their own parliament and flag and hold elections every four years. In 1998, the Swedish government apologized for "oppression of the Sami people, the refusal to let Sami use their own language and for forcible displacement of Sami groups." The museum has displays of a Sami tent, which resembles a tepee, hunting and fishing gear, wooden sleds and everyday implements made from wood or reindeer bone. Also on display are the blue, red and yellow gákti, the outer garment and headcovering worn on ceremonial occasions. A self-guided tour includes reading plastic-protected sheets of paper found hanging from hooks. Brytaregatan 14, 011-46-980-170-29.

Where to stay

Hotell Kebne, Konduktörsgatan 7. 011-46-980-681-80. www.hotellkebne.com. Rooms from $160, tax and breakfast included. Just down the hill from the center of town. Extensive breakfast buffet offers several types of herring, eggs and bacon or sausage, make-your-own waffles, fruit, vegetables, cereal, cheeses, cold cuts, breads, yogurt, tea, coffee, juice.

Information

Kiruna Lappland Tourist Office: Lars Janssongatan 17, 011-46-980-188-80, www.lappland.se. Summer hours: 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. Winter hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays; closed Sundays.

Guidebooks

• "Sweden" by Carolyn Bain and Graeme Cornwallis (Lonely Planet, 2003, $19.99).

• "Sweden" (DK Publishing, 2005, $25).