The historic
parish of
Tysnæs (later spelled
Tysnes) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1907, the small portion of Tysnes Municipality located on the mainland (population: 67) was transferred to the neighboring
Kvinnherad Municipality. The municipal borders have not changed since that time.
Name The municipality (originally the
parish) is named after the old
Tysnes farm () since the first
Tysnes Church was built there. The first element is the
genitive case of the name of the
Old Norse god
Týr. The last element is which means "
headland".
Coat of arms The first
coat of arms for Tysnes was adopted on 28 October 1971 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when a new coat of arms replaced it. The official
blazon is
"Azure, under a chevron two crossed axes argent" (). This means the arms have a blue
field (background) and the
charge is two crossed
axes under a
chevron. The charge has a
tincture of
argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms were derived from the seal of the medieval
Onarheim guild (
Olavsgildet).
Onarheim is a village on the island of
Tysnesøya which was historically a
Viking Age center of power in the
Sunnhordland region. The
chevron above the axes was added to the municipal arms to distinguish it from the medieval arms and the arms for the old
Hordaland county. The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag had the same design as the coat of arms. The old coat of arms was never formally adopted because it was too similar to the coat of arms for
Hordaland county and the government refused to approve it. After
Hordaland county became part of the new
Vestland county, the Hordaland arms were no longer used. Additionally, a law was also changed, giving the municipal councils the ultimate authority to determine their own coats of arms, so Tysnes decided to review their arms. The council debated approving the old arms or choosing to adopt the arms of the old Hordaland county (with different colors). In 2020, the council adopted a new coat of arms based on the old Hordaland arms. The official
blazon is
"Azure, under a royal crown two crossed axes argent" (). This means the arms have a blue
field (background) and the
charge is a two crossed
axes under a three pointed crown. The charge has a
tincture of
argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This design was chosen because it more closely resembled the old Onarheim arms than the previous design. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches The
Church of Norway has three parishes () within Tysnes Municipality. It is part of the
Sunnhordland prosti (
deanery) in the
Diocese of Bjørgvin. ==Government==