Two and a half hours west of the buzzing Norwegian city of Oslo lies a town that almost never sees the sun. The town of Rjukan is nestled within the valley between two towering mountains, so in the winter the sun never rises high enough for residents to see it.

Instead, for half the year, this settlement is bathed in shadow. However, in 2013, the town found an ingenious way to bring the sun to them—and it’s all thanks to mirrors. The clever scientific history of Rjukan dates back to 1902 when Sam Eyde purchased the Rjukan Falls and managed to turn it into a hydro-electric dam, creating the world’s largest  power plant at the time.

However, even in Eyde’s day, the town was shrouded in darkness for half the year.

That remained the case until 2013, when another scientific breakthrough brought the sun to Rjukan. Visitors to the town who look to the mountains may be able to spot three gigantic mirrors controlled by computers and powered by the sun. These mirrors track the sun across the sky and project the light down from the mountain peaks into the town square.   

This amazing innovation is the work of artist Martin Andersen. He moved to Rjukan in 2001 and told The Guardian the idea for the mirrors came to him as he was taking his young child for a walk and realised as winter drew closer he would have to walk further and further down the valley to find the sun.

He told The Guardian in 2013: “We’d look up and see blue sky above, and the sun high on the mountain slopes, but the only way we could get to it was to go out of town. The brighter the day, the darker it was down here. And it’s sad, a town that people have to leave in order to feel the sun.”

Eyde theorised the plan in the 20th century, but he didn’t have the technology to make it a reality. He did, however, create a gondola up the mountain that would take the townspeople to the sunshine—however, this gondola was closed in 2024 due to maintenance deficiencies and isn’t expected to reopen before 2028.

Without being able to easily access the sunlight on the mountains, it’s a good thing the mirrors provide what they do. 

Although the mirrors only light up a small section of the town square for a small part of the day, it’s proved massively popular with the residents of Rjukan. In the depths of winter they flock to the little light patch and enjoy the benefits of the sun—even if it is reflected.