Sunshine lit up a Norwegian town in a remote, dark valley for the first time in wintertime on Wednesday (October 30), as mirrors high on a mountainside realised a century-old dream.

About 1,000 people, including children wearing sunglasses and with yellow suns painted on their faces, cheered when the sun broke through clouds to illuminate the main square in Rjukan, until now in shadow from early October to mid-March.

The German-made mirrors will now reflect the sun to the town's main square, an area of roughly 600 square feet.

The sensor-equipped mirrors, powered by solar and wind energy, will automatically adjust, following the sun, to continually shine upon the town square in the bottom of the valley.

The project costs 5 million crown (£528,994) and involves three mirrors with a combined surface area of 51 sq metres (550 sq ft).

There are 3,500 inhabitants in the industrial town which is about 175 km (110 miles) west of Oslo.

The reflected sunlight, covering 600 sq metres (6,500 sq ft), is meant to create a meeting place for sun-starved locals and a draw for tourists. Organisers reckon the reflected light will be about 80 percent as bright as the real sun.

The sun shines here in the summertime, when it's higher in the sky, but sets on Oct. 4 behind the mountain and does not return until March 12.

Similar mirrors were first set up in 2006 in the Italian village of Viganella in the Alps, which is also hemmed in a dark valley.

Presented by Adam Justice