Tyssøyna or Tyssøy is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Øygarden Municipality Øygarden is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the cou ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The island lies in the northern part of the

Raunefjorden Raunefjorden is a strait (even though it is called a fjord) in Vestland county, Norway. The wide strait flows between the mainland Bergen Peninsula and the island of Sotra. Bergen Municipality is located on the east side on the mainland and Øyga ...

. The island has a population of about 70 and it is connected to the neighboring island of

Bjorøy Bjorøyna or Bjorøy is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island is located south of the island of Litlesotra, west of the Bergen Peninsula, north of the island of Tyssøyna, and east of the island of Sotra. Bj ...

to the north via a short bridge. Bjorøy is connected to the mainland by the

Bjorøy Tunnel The Bjorøy Tunnel ( no, Bjorøytunnelen) is a subsea road tunnel in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel is part of the Norwegian County Road 5236 which connects the island of Bjorøy in the municipality of Øygarden to the mainland near H ...

. The island is named for the Norse god

Týr (; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology, a valorous and powerful member of the and patron of warriors and mythological heroes. In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, ...

. On the western side of the island is a wide and sheltered harbour called Tyssøyvågen. A narrow inlet leads into the harbour from the south, on the eastern side of the inlet several large

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zo ...

rocks have tumbled down from the hillside. On one of these rocks the peculiar little "carving" is found. In the local community it is named "the crown" or "Tyssøykruna". Further inland on Tyssøy is a larger soapstone locality, bearing traces of being quarried for building material, most probably of a

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

date. It seems likely that the quarrying activities at the two sites have taken place at the same time. This indicates that the earliest possible date for the figure at the inlet of Tyssøyvågen is the Middle Ages. Also during the Middle Ages (ca. 1305), the Norwegian king

Haakon V Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) ( non, Hákon Magnússon; no, Håkon Magnusson, label=Modern Norwegian) was king of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Biography Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, Kin ...

built a

royal chapel A royal chapel is a chapel associated with a monarch, a royal court, or in a royal palace. A royal chapel may also be a Chapel (music), body of clergy or musicians serving at a royal court or employed by a monarch. Commonwealth countries Both ...

on the island. Remains of the chapel are still visible at a site called "Kyrkjesteinane".Ekerhovd, Nils-Arne. Sancti Ludovici in Tussisoy: Eit kongeleg kapell på Tyssøyna. Havstrilen 2015 (15) s. 6-13 Image:Tyss%C3%B8ykruna.tif, "Tyssøykruna". The "crown" is incised on the large flat slab in the centre of the picture. The site can only be reached by boat, but due to the white paint the figure is fully visible from the sea (photo by Nils-Arne Ekerhovd). Image:Kyrkjesteinane Tyssøyna.jpg, Kyrkjesteinane Tyssøyna (photo by Nils-Arne Ekerhovd).

References

Islands of Vestland Øygarden {{Vestland-island-stub

See also

References