Latitude 66°33' N marks the southernmost extent of the midnight sun on the summer solstice and the ragged edge of the polar night on the winter solstice. Where the Arctic Highway between Mo i Rana and Fauske cuts across this imaginary line, in a high, broad valley that remains snowbound for much of the year, the Polarsirkelsenteret (Arctic Circle Centre) occupies a lovely natural setting.
But what a missed opportunity: the Polarsirkelsenteret, beside the E6 and surrounded by the bleak moors that roll in from Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park, is a tourist trap and little more. The only redeeming feature is an audiovisual presentation on the Arctic regions. Outside, and altogether more sober and serious, are the memorials to Slav forced labourers who, during WWII, constructed the Arctic Highway for the occupying Nazi forces and died far from home.
Otherwise, the place exists mostly to stamp postcards with a special Arctic Circle postmark and sell certificates (99kr) for visitors to authenticate their crossing the line. Boreal kitsch is flogged here by the bucketload.
