Porjus is a locality situated in Jokkmokk Municipality,

Norrbotten County Norrbotten County (, Meänkieli/, ) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

with 328 inhabitants in 2010. Geographically it is situated by the shores of Lule River at 499 meter height. Porjus is known for having one of the oldest

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

plants in Sweden ( Porjus kraftverk - Porjus hydroelectric power station), built 1910–1915. The power plant was built to deliver electricity to the building of the railroad between

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; ; ) is a Cities in Sweden, city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the County Administrative Boards of Sweden, capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban ...

and

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

, where the mining industry shipped iron ore. Today, Porjus is a living village and the old power plant is a popular tourist attraction among many others. Swedish power company

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational corporation, multinational electrical power industry, power company owned by the List of government enterprises of Sweden, Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germa ...

is the biggest employer, but there are also a number of smaller companies such as the small aviation compan
Fiskflyg
which offered the first regular passenger flights in Sweden back in the days (the route: Porjus - Suorva). There is also a unique golf course (you play across the Lule river, next to a big dam), a small downhill skiing course, snowmobile routes, small shops, a 50 kilometer long walking trail from

Gällivare Gällivare (; ; or ; or ; ) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was founded in the 17th century. Together with nearby towns Malmberget ...

, used by the workers to carry building material 90 years ago, and a uniqu
photo gallery
which has

aurora borealis An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

as its specialty. Porjus was the home of the online artists Lagoona between the years 1996–2004. Singer Birgitta Svendén and the former MD of major Swedish technology company Ericsson,

Carl-Henric Svanberg Carl-Henric Svanberg (born 29 May 1952) is a Swedish businessman and chairman of Volvo. He was chairman of BP for eight years, from 2010 to 2018. In December 2023, Svanberg was appointed commission chair to the AI Commission to the Swedish Gove ...

, now chairman of

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

and former chairman of BP, are two other well-known persons who were born in Porjus. Porjus is also the last stop before you enter Laponia area, a UNESCO world heritage area which includes four national parks. In October 1944, an

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...

bomber crash landed in nearby marshes after bombing the during Operation Obviate. After crash landing, the crew sold the fuel and set fire to Lancaster NF920 ("Easy Elsie"). They were unable to destroy the entire airplane so much of it still lies in the marshes of Sweden.

References

External links

*
Official site of Porjus
(in Swedish)
Porjus, Northern Lights village
Populated places in Jokkmokk Municipality Lapland (Sweden) Populated places in Arctic Sweden {{Norrbotten-geo-stub