Rjukan is a town in southern Norway, on the south-eastern edge of
the Hardangervidda. The small town of Rjukan is located in East
Telemark in Vestfjorddalen, which is bounded by the 1883 m high
Gaustatoppen to the south and by Hardangervidda to the west.
Among other things, Rjukan became known as a place where no sunlight
reaches six months of the year: due to the narrowness of the valley,
it is dark over the entire winter half-year in the place lying on
the valley floor. This led to the construction of the Krossobanen in
1928, which allowed residents to go up to mountain level to get
sunlight. There have also long been plans to use large mirrors to
direct sunlight into the town. At the end of October 2013, after
many years of planning, three large heliostats were put into
operation on the hill above the city. During the winter months, they
direct sunlight onto the city's market square.
Despite the
lack of light, Rjukan was an early attraction for tourists: the
waterfall Rjukanfossen and Gaustatoppen, the highest mountain in
southern Norway, plus the proximity to the Hardangervidda made the
place known as a tourist destination. The Rjukan Railway to Tinnsjø,
which operated from 1908 (until 1991), and the railway ferry across
the lake made it possible for travelers to reach the place quite
easily at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the railway
was primarily built for the construction of what was then the
world's largest hydroelectric power plant, Vermork, for the directly
adjacent aluminum producer Norsk Hydro plant. Both buildings led to
rapid growth of the town.
In particular, the Norsk Hydro
plant also brought world events to the small, otherwise rather
remote place: Rjukan, like all of Norway, was in the hands of the
German occupying power during the Second World War. The Germans were
particularly interested in heavy water, the only one in Europe
produced in the Norsk Hydro plants, which was required for nuclear
fission and thus for the production of nuclear weapons. Numerous
acts of sabotage, in which both English and American soldiers were
involved in addition to Norwegian resistance fighters, directly
involved the region in the war. However, several attempts to stop
production failed. The transport of the heavy water to Germany was
finally prevented only when Norwegian resistance fighters blew up
the railway ferry across the Tinnsjø. The industrial complexes
around Vermork, which are now used as visitor centres, were included
in the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2015.
Today the
place with the Gaustatoppen and the long-kept secret Gaustabahn,
which has been open to the public since 2004, the Krossobahn, the
Rjukanfossen and the Vermork power plant, which is now an industrial
museum, offers a large number of attractions, complemented by the
original landscape in the area. Even in winter, the region is known
for its excellent opportunities for cross-country skiing.
By plane
The most convenient airport for further travel to Rjukan
is Oslo Airport Gardermoen.
By train
Since the Rjukan Railway
was closed, it is no longer possible to travel to Rjukan by train. For
travelers coming from Oslo, the nearest train station is in Kongsberg,
from where there are bus connections to Rjukan.
In addition, the
train station in Nordagutu on the Bradsbergbanen offers an arrival
option with a bus connection.
By bus
From Oslo you can reach
Rjukan by bus from Kongsberg (1:30 h drive from Kongsberg).
Coming from the south coast, you can take the bus from the train station
in Nordagutu (travel time approx. 1:40 hours).
From Notodden it
is a 1:10 hour drive to Rjukan.
Gaustatoppen The cone-shaped mountain is the highest mountain in
southern Norway and (with good visibility) offers an overview of almost
a sixth of Norway from the summit at 1883 m.
Gaustabanen
Rjukanfossen
Krossobanen, Kraftledningsveien 1, 3660 Rjukan. Tel: +47
35 09 00 27, email: post@krossobanen.no. Scandinavia's oldest cable car
was built in 1928 to give the people of Rjukan access to sunlight even
during the winter months. The valley station is at an altitude of 403 m,
about 1 km west of the city centre. From there, the train takes visitors
in four and a half minutes to the Gvepseborg mountain station at an
altitude of 886 m. At the mountain station there is a lookout tower from
which you have a wide view of the surrounding mountains, especially
Gaustatoppen and Hardangervidda. A cafe at the mountain station is under
construction. The mountain station is also the starting point for hikes
and bike tours in summer and for alpine skiing, Nordic skiing or
toboggan runs in winter.
Norsk Industrial Museum, Vemork, 3660
Rjukan. Tel.: +47 35 09 90 00, fax: +47 35 09 90 01, e-mail:
post@nia.vemork.no. The Norwegian Industrial Workers' Museum is located
in the former Vemork power station at the western end of the Rjukan
Gorge. Among other things, the story of the Helter i Telemark, the
heroes of the Telemark, is documented here - the Norwegian resistance
fighters who were instrumental in preventing the transport of the heavy
water needed for nuclear weapons production to Germany in 1944.
Rjukan is located in the narrow Vestfjord valley, bounded by the
southern foothills of Hardangervidda on the north and one of Norway's
most famous mountains, Gaustatoppen (1883 m high), on the south. The
narrowness of the east-west valley is the reason why the light of the
deep sun in the winter half-year from October to March - then the
Solfest (literally sun festival) is celebrated as a welcome, see below
under events - no longer reaches the place at the valley floor . In
2013, three heliostats (3 mirrors, each with an area of 17 m²) were set
up, which during this time reflect sunlight on an area of 600 m² on the
market square.
Geographical features are the 10 km east of
Rjukan, fjord-like lake Tinnsjø (Norwegian "Lake of Tinn", 434 m depth)
and the 105 m high waterfall Rjukanfossen (literally: smoke fall).
The Vestfjord valley was already a focal point for tourists in
the 18th century who wanted to visit the area's natural attractions,
especially Rjukanfossen. Around 1907 about 50 families lived in the
valley. Rjukan also owes its actual emergence at the beginning of
the 20th century to the numerous waterfalls in the immediate
vicinity.
As early as 1909, the town was opened up by the
private Rjukanbanen (RjB) and a railway ferry across the Tinnsjø. In
1911, a few kilometers west of Rjukan, Norsk Hydro, whose founder
Sam Eyde used the power of Rjukanfossen and other neighboring
springs, built the Vemork hydroelectric power station (♁59° 52′
16.1″ N, 8° 29′ 29″ E). become, at the time, the largest in the
world. In the years that followed, more power stations (including
Såheim power station) and industrial facilities were built, and by
1917 around 10,000 people were already living in Rjukan and the
surrounding area.
The site and all of the valley's cultural
and social facilities were built and maintained by the power plant
operators. For example, in 1928 the Krossobanen, the first cable car
in Northern Europe. It was built so that the workers from Rjukan
could see the sun even in winter. Rjukan subsequently developed into
Norway's first heavy industry centre.
Rjukan became known far
beyond Norway's borders during the Second World War. Norwegian
researchers had already started researching and producing heavy
water (discovered in 1931) at the Vemork chemical and power plant
before the war. Heavy water was a necessary tool for nuclear fission
and chain reactions.
With the "Operation Weserübung" and the
occupation of neutral Norway by German troops in April 1940, the
research results and the existing stocks of heavy water fell into
the hands of the German occupying forces after a bitter fight for
the Norsk-Hydro works. However, France had just recently bought up
all the stocks, around 160 kg, which were now stored in Paris (from
where – before the German army marched in there – they were taken to
England). Production initially continued.
In order to prevent
the possible threat of a German atomic bomb, two Halifax tow planes,
each with an Airspeed Horsa glider, took off in the night of 19/20.
November 1942 from Skitten, Scotland towards Vemork. 'Operation
Freshman', carried out in cooperation by British Royal Engineers,
the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Norwegian Resistance,
aimed to destroy heavy water production and stocks. However, this
first airborne operation failed, a Halifax and two Horsa gliders
crashed in the foothills of the Hardangervidda.
Only a
Halifax made the return flight to Scotland. The other survivors were
handed over to the Gestapo by the German Wehrmacht and executed on
the same day in the surrounding forests. The bloody record of the
disastrous commando operation was 39 shot or killed British
soldiers.
In December 1945 the victims were exhumed and
forensically examined to accuse the Gestapo officers. The British
soldiers were buried in a soldier's grave in Helleland Cemetery.
In a second operation in February 1943, Norwegian resistance
fighters landed on the Hardangervidda plain and set up their bivouac
there. On February 27, this group managed to blow up most of the
tanks in the high-concentration plant. The larger part of the
twelve-man Norwegian group was then able to settle in neutral
Sweden, while some resistance fighters maintained a small radio
station on the Hardangervidda until the end of the war.
However, the Germans rebuilt the destroyed production areas in the
summer of 1943. The Americans then decided to massively bomb the
entire facility. On November 16, 140 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers
attacked the Vemork power plant and research facility. The plant was
damaged in the process and the Germans gave up heavy water
production in Vemork. The 30-minute attack killed or injured 21
Norwegian civilians.
After the plant was abandoned in
February 1944, the remaining heavy water was to be transported to
Germany in railway wagons. To prevent this, the Norwegian resistance
fighters went into action again.
On February 20, 1944, a
three-man Norwegian SOE commando snuck onto the ferry Hydro, which
was supposed to bring the wagons with the barrels across the
Tinnsjø, and installed an explosive charge in the engine room. When
the ferry was about halfway across the lake, a timer detonated the
explosive device. The craft sank within a few seconds, along with 50
barrels of heavy water (some not fully filled remained floating on
the surface) and the crew – four German crew soldiers and 14
Norwegians. A memorial stone (Krigsminne, see picture) on the shore
near the sinking site commemorates this day and the loss of the
people. The whole action was dramatized in the British feature film
The Heroes of Telemark, 1965.
The fight for the heavy waters
ended in Norway with a high death toll. The actions from mid-1942 to
February 1944 were one of the largest coordinated resistance
operations in a German-occupied country during the entire war.
After the war, Norsk Hydro's influence in Rjukan waned, and its
importance as an industrial location declined due to the region's
inaccessibility. However, the power plants remained the main
economic factor in the area.
Today, Rjukan is again primarily
a center for tourism, just as it was before it became an industrial
center. It is a starting point for tours in the Hardangervidda and a
popular ski area in winter.