Tysnes


Tysnes is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Uggdal. Other population centres in Tysnes include the villages of Våge and Onarheim. The island municipality is located in a group of islands near the mouth of the Hardangerfjorden. The majority of the municipal population lives on the island of Tysnesøya, the largest island in the municipality.
The municipality is the 283rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Tysnes is the 235th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,869. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The historic parish of Tysnæs was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1907, the small portion of Tysnes located on the mainland was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Kvinnherad. The municipal borders have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality are named after the old Tysnes farm, since the first Tysnes Church was built here. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the god Tyr and the last element is nes which means "headland".
This is probably the only place in Norway named after the god Tyr. Several place names around the farm also have sacred meanings: Ve, Helgastein, Godøy, and Vevatnet. The old name of the big island of Tysnesøy was Njarðarlǫg. Recently, a sun phenomenon connected to the original Tysnes headland has been discovered, and this seems to be the starting-point of the sacral name complex.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 28 October 1971. The arms are derived from the seal of the medieval Onarheim guild. Onarheim is a village on the island of Tysnesøya. It was historically a Viking Age center of power in the Sunnhordland region. The village is now part of Tysnes municipality. The arms show two crossed silver axes on a blue background. There is a silver chevron above the axes which was added to the municipal arms to distinguish it from the medieval arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes within the municipality of Tysnes. It is part of the Sunnhordland prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
OnarheimOnarheim ChurchOnarheim1893
Reksteren og UggdalReksteren ChurchReksteren1937
Reksteren og UggdalUggdal ChurchUggdal1876
TysnesTysnes ChurchVåge1868

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Tysnes, are responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Tysnes is made up of 21 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Tysnes :
The municipality consists of a group of islands, located south of the city of Bergen where the Hardangerfjorden and the coastal archipelago meet. The Bjørnafjorden lies north of the municipality and the Langenuen strait runs along the western side of the municipality. The largest of these islands, named Tysnesøya, can be reached from the mainland either by ferry to the village of Våge on the north side of the island or by the road bridge constructed on the eastern side of the island. The second largest island is Reksteren, which is connected to Tysnesøya by a small road bridge.

Media

The newspaper Tysnes has been published in Tysnes since 1953.