Spectators across Spain watched in wonder, some whipping off their protective glasses and rising to their feet in unison, as a rare total ​solar eclipse swept across the north of the country on Wednesday evening, plunging it into darkness.

Spain deployed a massive police contingent and set up special viewing spots across rural ‌areas that offered the best views of the spectacle.

Millions of people gathered in Iceland and northern Spain to witness Western Europe’s first total solar eclipse in 27 years.

Throughout human history, eclipses have stirred amazement, fear and reverence, as they appear to momentarily halt the normal course of nature.

The shadow or “umbra” cast by the alignment of Sun and Moon creates a strange twilight during which temperatures drop, shadows appear at strange angles and some animals go to sleep.

But the phenomenon is fleeting, lasting just minutes, with the lunar shadow moving across the surface of the Earth at some 3,430 kilometres (2,130 miles) per hour, according to the Paris Observatory.

Header image: The “diamond ring” effect appears as the moon moves across the sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from El Arenal beach in Mallorca, Spain, August 12, 2026. —Reuters