Kinsarvik (municipality)

Kinsarvik is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kinsarvik where Kinsarvik Church is located. The municipality of Kinsarvik existed two different times: from 1838 until 1869 and then again from 1913 until 1964. The municipality centered on the inner part of the Hardangerfjorden, and (originally) surrounded all of the Sørfjorden. The original Kinsarvik encompassed all of the present day municipalities of Ullensvang (except for Røldal) and a small part of Voss. Upon its final dissolution in 1964, it covered an area of . The large parish of Kinsarvik (spelled Kinzervig at that time) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The parish of Kinsarvik was centered at Kinsarvik Church and it had one parish annex: Ullensvang. In 1869, Ullensvang became the main parish, and Kinsarvik became an annex to Ullensvang (and the municipality then changed its name to Ullensvang). On 1 July 1913, the municipality of Ullensvang was split into three separate municipalities. The northwestern part became Kinsarvik (population: 1,736), the central part was Ullensvang (population: 1,941) and the southern part became Odda (population: 3,077). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Kinsarvik municipality was dissolved. The Lussand-Kvanndal area north of the Hardangerfjorden (population: 72) was transferred to Granvin Municipality. The remainder of Kinsarvik (population: 1,513) was merged into Ullensvang Municipality once again. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Kinsarvik farm (Kinsarvík) since the first Kinsarvik Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the old river name Kinns (now called Kinso). That name comes from the word kinn which means "steep hillside". The last element is vík which means "bay" or "cove". During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives.