The Darkest Town on Earth
SimpleNation has never been one to shy away from strange geography - rather, that’s what the core purpose of this site is. In the past, the site has looked at capital cities with a population of zero, a ladder that could spark a holy war, an island where a bottle of whiskey was at the heart of an inter-continental dispute, and an area where the local tribe believes that pretending to run an airport will grant them vast wealth.
Source: Google Maps
When you read the title of today’s article, you would be forgiven for thinking that it referred to a polar region - the world’s most northern, permanently inhabited place is Alert, Canada, which is so far north that it sees the sun for the final time on October 13th, until it rises again on February 28th, indicating five straight months of darkness. By contrast, however, this means that during the summer, it experiences five straight months of sunlight, indicating that it cannot be the “darkest” place on Earth.
You’d be correct by guessing that the darkest town is in a sub-polar country - more specifically, it’s located in Norway. But how does Rjukan, located west of Oslo in the country’s south, experience less sunlight than anywhere else permanently inhabited?
Aside from being the site of a heavy water sabotage operation during WWII, Rjukan’s unique physical geography places it at the bottom of a valley, where the sun does not crest above the mountain walls between September and March, leaving the town without direct sunlight for six straight months - longer than even the North and South Poles.
The solution put in place is simple: indirect sunlight.
The mirrors reflect a patch of sunlight into an otherwise darkened town. Source: Mahabis
Rjukan’s residents constructed three large mirrors known as the Solspeilet in 2013, to reflect the sun’s rays into town to combat seasonal depression. The sunlight shines directly into the town square - a bizarre oasis of sunlight in an otherwise entirely shaded town. Previously, to stand in the sunlight during the six months of darkness, residents had to ride a cable car up the mountainside to reach an altitude high enough to be out of the shade. Although the cable car is still operational and somewhat popular, and some residents reportedly viewed the Solspeilet as a “vanity project and criminal waste of money” at first, it has since come to be celebrated as something that brings undeniable joy to residents, even among those initially sceptical.
As we - at least, here in the northern hemisphere - move into spring, Rjukan is a great reminder for us to enjoy the sunshine where possible - and be creative to find a solution where it isn’t.
