The sun will appear over the horizon at 12:25 local time (09:25 GMT), and set again just 71 minutes later, at 13:36 (10:36 GMT). The polar night in Murmansk, the largest city located within the Arctic Circle, began on 1 December and lasted until 11 January.
Last year, about 1,000 people met on Solnechnaya Gorka; they ranged from infants to pensioners, and included both locals from Murmansk, and visitors from as far away as China and Thailand. Despite the fact that the sun was not visible due to the clouds, a Murmansk chorus sang the songs “May there always be sunshine” and “Ray of golden sunshine”, celebrating their first dawn of the new decade.
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