Tysnes Church


Tysnes Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tysnes Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Våge on the northern shore of the island of Tysnesøya. It is the church for the Tysnes parish which is part of the Sunnhordland prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1867 using designs by the architect Georg Andreas Bull. The church seats about 370 people.

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1329, but it was not new at that time. The first church here was likely a stave church located at Tysnes. In 1685, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new timber-framed church. It was built by Erik Fyllingsnes from Lindaas and Oluf Bysemb from Osterøy. In 1867, the church was torn down and replaced with a new wooden church, about to the southwest of the old church site. In 1906, the church was disassembled and moved about to the southwest, across the bay to Gjerstad where it was rebuilt. It was moved here because it was closer to the main village. Since the old architectural designs of the church were lost, the architect Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff was hired to design the newly rebuilt church. The building was consecrated on 27 September 1906. In 1977, the church was extensively remodeled, and then re-consecrated on 4 October 1977.