The 660-tonne church, built 750 years ago, is being moved so that coal deposits beneath it can be mined.

The church has been lifted from its foundations and lowered onto a rolling wooden base that is expected to reach the nearby village of Borna next week.

Heuersdorf's residents are also being relocated to make way for the mine.

The village's 59 inhabitants earlier lost a legal battle to prevent the Mibrag company from building its mine.

The firm agreed to move the church in order to secure the right to mine under the village, near the city of Leipzig in what used to be East Germany.

A spokeswoman for Mibrag told AFP news agency the church is expected to arrive at its new home on 31 October.

The cost for the project is estimated to be 3m euros ($4.2m; £2m).

Heuersdorf was built atop large deposits of lignite, a type of brown coal used to fuel power plants.