So, I have this list with the places I want to visit and things I would like to see.

The list is mostly connected to some important events that happened or people that have lived there. Sometimes even food 🙂

I found about about Rjukan when I did a before-move-to-Norway research and really got hung up on visiting the town after seeing a 1965 The Heroes of Telemark movie with Kirk Douglas. The movie is based on the real life event from World War II. A bit more about that in my next post.

During this years lockdown there was not much to do, but when the signs of getting back to the old settings slowly started to show (now we know it was a mistake, but who’s to blame) we rented a car for a one day road trip.

Two and a half hour drive to the west through picturesque spring landscape full of hills, meadows and waterfalls lead us to Rjukan.

The administrative centre of Tinn municipality with less than 4000 inhabitants was once a big industrial centre in Telemark county.

Rjukan was actually established at the beginning of 20^th century when Norsk Hydro started saltpetre (fertilizer) production there. The town was chosen because of the Rjukan Falls, a 104-metre waterfall that provided easy means of generating large quantities of electricity.

The man behind the idea to use the Rjukan falls was Sam Eyde, the founder of Hydro.

Between 1907 and 1911 Norsk Hydro built what was at the time the world’s largest hydro-electric power plant at Vemork near Rjukan, and in 1934 hydrogen plant was built next to it. A by-product of hydrogen production via water electrolysis was heavy water, rather important component in nuclear production during WWII.

After 1960, most of the saltpetre production in Rjukan was transferred to Norsk Hydro factories in some other Norwegian towns but some of the industry is still present in the area today.

These days Rjukan is mostly tourist town as the area has good terrain for skiing, hiking and ice climbing.

Maybe the most specific thing about this town is its position between two mountains so between September and March the whole town lies in the shadow and does not get sunlight.

We all know the importance of sunlight during long dark winter days so in 2013, at a cost of 5 million Norwegian kroner, large mirrors were placed on the northern mountainside to reflect the sun that illuminates the town square.

https://studio.youtube.com/video/FhrSA-SMZJI/edit

During the summer the sun mirror operates from 10am to 4pm while in winter on the shortest day of the year the mirror operates only for an hour, but even that hour means a lot when you don’t get the Sun at all.

Late in May when we traveled to Rjukan, due to the corona virus lockdown, much of the places were closed or with few visitors, but we have managed to visit the Norwegian industrial workers museum and have lunch at the local restaurant that offers overnight accommodation too.

We were the only ‘’younger’’ couple there, as the retirement home must be somewhere in the near. Had some snitzel before heading up for Gaustatoppen. But more on that in the next posts. Enjoy these beautiful photo for now 🙂

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RJUKAN

Znači, dakle, ovako ja imam popis mjesta koja bih voljela posjetiti i stvari koje bih htjela vidjeti. Popis je većinom usko povezan uz važne povijesne događaje ili ljude. Hranu, ponekad.

Za Rjukan sam doznala prije selidbe u Norvešku dok sam istraživala raznorazne lokalne događaje i slično, no za oko mi je posebno zapeo nakon serije Kampen om tungtvannet, filma Heroes of Telemark i ovog članka.

Za vrijeme prvogodišnje izolacije Norveške od ostatka svijeta, unajmili smo auto i otišli na jednodnevni izlet.

Dva i pol sata vožnjom u smjeru zapada, kroz pitoreskni proljetni krajolik prepun brda, dolina i vodopada dovela su nas do Rjukana.

 

Administrativni centar općine Tinn s manje od 4000 stanovnika nekoć davno bio je glavni industrijski centar pokrajine Telemark.   

Rjukan je zapravo utemeljen početkom 20. stoljeća kao industrijski grad kad je Norsk Hydro tvornica u okolici grada pokrenula proizvodnju fertilizatora. Grad Rjukan izabran je zbog ogromnog vodopada koji je omogućavao velike količine struje za pokretanje tvorničkog pogona.

Čovjek kojem je ideja da upotrijebi velebnu snagu 104 metra visokog vodopada zvao se Sam Eyde, osnivač Hydro.

Između 1907 i 1911 u neposrednoj blizini Rjukana Norsk Hydro sagradila je, u ono vrijeme, najveću hidroelektranu na svijetu. Nusprodukt hidroprodukcije preko vodene elektrolize bila je teška voda, važan sastojak u proizvodnji nuklearnih elemenata, što će se važnim pokazati par desetljeća kasnije, za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata.

Nakon 1960 većina proizvodnje fertilizatora premještena je na jug Norveške, no i dan dana u gradu ima nešto industrijskih objekata.

Ovih dana Rjukan je većinom (avan)turističko mjesto obzirom na velik broj skijaških, planinarskih i ledenopenjačkih staza.

Doduše, možda, grad svoju popularnost zahvaljuje smještaju u udolinu između dvoje velike planine, tako da grad, od rujna do ožujka, uopće ne dobiva sunčevu svjetlost, a svi smo svjesni važnosti iste.

Tako da su gradski vijećnici 2013 odlučili iskeširati 5 milja norveških kruna za postavljanje svjetlosnih panela na vrh planine sa zapadne strane grada.

Kompjuterizirana ogledala, kojima se bežično upravlja s gradskog trga, reflektiraju svjetlost na središnje mjesto okupljanja stanovnika grada.

https://studio.youtube.com/video/FhrSA-SMZJI/edit

Možete samo zamisliti oduševljenje lokalaca kad ih je zimsko sunce prvi put pomazilo nakon postavljanja tri 17 metara visoka ogledala na visini od 742 metra nadmorske visine.

Ogledala reflektiraju oko 80% sunčeve svjetlosti i mogu zagrijati trg do nekih 3-4 stupnja celzija. Neloše 🙂

Za vrijeme ljeta ogledala rade od 10 do 16 sati dok su za vrijeme kratkih zimskih dana u uporabi kratkih sat vremena, no čak i to puno znači kad živiš pol godine u mrakači.

Mi smo u Rjukan otišli krajem svibnja, kad ogledala nisu bila od nekog značaja, no bez obzira na to bilo ih je zanimljivo doživjeti. Zbog izolacije grad je bio gotovo pust, bez turista, s pokojim putnikom namjernikom no uspjeli smo posjetiti Industrijski muzej nakon kojeg smo navratili do lokalnog restorana u čijem kompleksu se nalaze kućice za noćenje.

Bili smo jedini posjetitelji mlađi od pedeset, ako ne i šezdeset jer se u blizini, valjda, nalazi umirovljenički dom, no svejedno smo se okrijepili šniclima prije bezuspješnog penjanja na Gaustatoppen. No o tome više u jednom od narednih postova.