Kinsarvik is a town in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland
county. Until 2020, the town was the municipal center in Ullensvang.
Kinsarvik is also a parish in Hardanger and Voss parish in the
Church of Norway, and it used to be the name of a municipality.
The name "Kinsarvik" comes from the river Kinso, which flows
into the Hardangerfjord in Kinsarvik. Kinso comes from kinn, which
means 'steep mountain side'.
Geography and facilities
The
conurbation of Kinsarvik is located on the Hardangerfjord, east of
the entrance to Sørfjorden, about 40 kilometers north of the center
of Odda. Kinsarvik is centrally located in inner Hardanger and, from
its nature, has all the conditions to become a meeting place. The
fjord arms meet and when ships entered the fjord it would be natural
to dock in Kinsarvik. One of the easiest vegan routes across the
Hardangervidda for those who came from the east and were going down
to the fjord went down in Kinsarvik.
In Kinsarvik, there is
the cutlery manufacturer Hardanger Bestikk, a department of the
Statens Kartverk, Ullensvang immigrant center and asylum reception,
a go-kart track and the campsite and camp school Hardangertun with
its associated family park. Kinsarvik has 2 more campsites besides
Hardangertun, and the Kinsarvik Fjord Hotel is also located here.
Other facilities include a library, several grocery stores and
souvenir shops, tourist information open all year round and a
helicopter base. As a county seat, Kinsarvik also has a county court
house, sheriff's office and several municipal services.
Kinsarvik school is a combined children's and youth school. The
youth school gathers pupils from the entire eastern part of
Ullensvang, from Ytre Bu at the border of Eidfjord municipality to
Fresvik at the border of Odda municipality.
A popular tourist
road in Kinsarvik runs through Husedalen, where you can pass the
waterfalls Tveitafossen, Nyastølsfossen, Nykkjesøyfossen and
Søtefossen. The trip takes approximately 4-5 hours.
From
Husedalen it is also possible to go up to the Norwegian Tourist
Association's cabin at Stavali on Hardangervidda. This is a day
trip.
The purchase price in Kinsarvik
It is said that
Kinsarvik was a trading post and meeting place for the Hardanger
villages. The purchase must have been destroyed by a fire. When
excavations were carried out on the allmark in front of the church,
a great many objects of use from the Middle Ages were found, among
other things nails, a soapstone sauce, brass nails, brass fittings,
parts of a bowl scale and a lot of ceramics. Under the turf there
were also charcoal and burning stones.
Transportation
National highway 13 runs through the town down by the fjord. From
Kinsarvik there is a ferry connection to Utne and Kvanndal. Before
the Vallavik tunnel opened in 1985, and together with the ferry
connection Bruravik-Brimnes took over most of the long-distance
traffic, Kinsarvik-Utne-Kvanndal was the most important ferry
connection for traffic going across the Hardangerfjord before or
after the trip across the Hardangervidda (National Road 7).
In summer, there is a snow boat between Norheimsund, Utne, Lofthus,
Kinsarvik, Eidfjord center and Ulvik.
Kinsarvik municipality
Kinsarvik has been used as a municipality name in two bolkars. In
the first period, Kinsarvik municipality encompassed what is today
Ullensvang herad and Odda municipality, with the exception of
Røldal. This municipality changed its name to Ullensvang in 1870.
The second division started in 1913 when Ullensvang was divided into
three municipalities, Odda, Ullensvang and Kinsarvik. Roughly
outlined, Kinsarvik municipality then included the land around the
Utnefjord and that of the land on the east side of the Folgefonn
peninsula which today belongs to Ullensvang. The land in the
municipality was thus on four sides of the Hardangerfjord, where it
divides into Granvinsfjorden, Eidfjorden and Sørfjorden. In 1964,
Kinsarvik was merged with Ullensvang again.
The parish of
Kinsarvik
Kinsarvik is a parish under Ullensvang joint council in
Ullensvang parish in Hardanger and Voss parish in Bjørgvin diocese
in The Church of Norway. The parish has a church, Kinsarvik church,
a stone church built 1150–1160.
The family name Kinsarvik
Kinsarvik has also been used as a family name, a well-known bearer
is the woodcarver and furniture maker Lars Kinsarvik. Today, there
are only seven people who claim the surname Kinsarvik in Norway.