Tysnes

Infobox_Kommune
name = Tysnes
idnumber = 1223
county = Hordaland
landscape = Sunnhordland
capital = Uggdal
language = Nynorsk
demonym = Tysnesing


munwebpage = www.tysnes.kommune.no
governor = Helge Hauge (Sp)
governor_as_of = 2003
arearank = 299
area = 255
arealand = 245
areapercent = 0.08
population_as_of = 2004
populationrank = 284
population = 2,812
populationpercent = 0.06
populationdensity = 11
populationincrease = -2.0
lat_deg=59 | lat_min=59 | lat_sec=54 | lon_deg=5 | lon_min=34 | lon_sec=38
utm_zone=32V | utm_northing=6656194 | utm_easting=0309146 | geo_cat=adm2nd

Tysnes is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Uggdal.

The parish of "Tysnæs" was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The municipality consists of a group of islands, located south of Bergen where the Hardangerfjord and the coastal archipelago meet. The largest of these islands, named Tysnesøy or just Tysnes, can be reached from the mainland either by ferry to the town of Våge in the north of the island or by the bridge constructed on the eastern side of the island. Tysnes is a popular vacation destination.Fact|date=February 2007

General Information

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) are named after the "Tysnes" farm (Old Norse "Týsnes"), since the first 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. It is interesting to note that several place names around the farm also have sacred meanings: "Ve" (holy place), "Helgastein" (holy rock), "Godøy" (the god's island), and "Vevatnet" (the holy lake). The old name of the big island of Tysnesøy was "Njarđarlog" (the district of the god Njord).

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 28 October 1971. The arms are derived from the seal of the medieval Onarheim guild. Onarheim is a town on Tysnes island, and was formally a Viking Age center of power in Sunnhordland, now part of Tysnes municipality. It is two crossed silver axes on a blue background. The chevron was added to the municipal arms to distinguish it from the medieval arms. [cite web|url=http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/t/tysnes.htm|author=Norske Kommunevåpen|date=1990|title=Nye kommunevåbener i Norden|accessdaymonth=27 September|accessyear=2008]

References

External links

* [http://www.tysnes.kommune.no/default.asp?PageID=48 Tysnes municipality home page]
* [http://www.tysnesbladet.no/ "Tysnes" newspaper] no icon
* [http://www.tysnesingen.no/ "Tysnesingen" online newspaper] no icon