The sun has powerful effects on our minds and bodies, and it changes us when it’s absent. The inhabitants of Rjukan in southern Norway have a complex relationship with the sun. To say they’re obsessed with it is an understatement. They like to talk about the sun: when it’s coming back, if it’s been a long time since they’ve seen it, how long will it be out when it comes back? That’s because for approximately half the year, they can see the sunlight shining high up on the north wall of the valley, but as autumn wears on the light moves higher up the wall each day, and then it’s gone. What is it about the flat, gloomy grayness of winter that seems to penetrate our skin and dampen our spirits? Today, this mild form of malaise is often called the winter blues, and for a minority of people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), winter is quite literally depressing. It was a bookkeeper named Oscar Kittilsen who first came up with the idea of erecting large rotatable mirrors on the northern side of the valley above Rjukan, where they would be able to first collect the sunlight and then spread it like a headlamp beam over the town and its merry inhabitants. The three mirrors, each measuring 182 square feet, stand proud upon the mountainside above the town. In January, the sun is only high enough to bring light to the town square for 2 hours a day — noon to 2 p.m. — but even that little bit of time in the sun is good enough for the folks of Rjukan.
