Sørreisa ( sme, Ráisavuona suohkan) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is the village of

Sørreisa Sørreisa ( sme, Ráisavuona suohkan) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sørreisa. Other villages include Grunnreisa, Skøelva, and Smørsgård. The municip ...

. Other villages include Grunnreisa, Skøelva, and Smørsgård. The municipality is the 248th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sørreisa is the 218th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,414. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of ''Sørreisen'' was established on 1 September 1886 when the large

Tranøy Municipality Tranøy is a former municipality that was located in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality is situated on the southern coast of the large island of Senja. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was me ...

was divided into three: Tranøy (population: 1,239) in the west,

Dyrøy Dyrøy ( sme, Divrráid suohkan) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Brøstadbotn. Other villages include Dyrøyhamn, Espenes, Holm, and Hundstrand. The m ...

(population: 1,281) in the south, and Sørreisen (population: 1,361) in the east. Later, the spelling was changed to ''Sørreisa''. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the part of Sørreisa across the Reisafjorden on the island of Senja (population: 129) was transferred to

Lenvik Municipality Lenvik ( sme, Leaŋgáviika) is a former municipality that was located in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The municipality was partly situated on the mainland and partly on the isla ...

. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Troms county.

Name

The municipality is named after the Reisafjorden (originally ''Reisa''), which again is named after the Reisaelva (the "Reisa river" - originally ''Reisa''). The river name is derived from the verb ''rísa'' which means "raise" (referring to flooding). The first element ''Sør'' ("south") was added to distinguish the municipality from Nordreisa Municipality (located further to the north in the same county). The municipality was originally named Sørreisen.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 7 September 1984. The arms show three gold

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s on a red background. It was derived from the oldest known seal in the municipality, a 17th-century seal of Jacob Hansen Kinapel, who was a police sergeant in Sørreisa from 1715 to 1748.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Sørreisa. It is part of the

Indre Troms prosti Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland ( no, Nord-Hålogaland bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms og Finnmark county as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø ...

Geography

Sørreisa is located on the western coast of Norway, along the Reisafjorden, just east of the large island of Senja. The municipality is mostly populated along the shoreline. The municipality of

lies to the west,

Salangen Salangen is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sjøvegan, where most of the people in the municipality live. Other villages include Elvenes, Laberg, and Seljesko ...

and Bardu to the south, Målselv to the east, and Lenvik to the north.

Climate

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Sørreisa, are responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

, senior citizen services, unemployment and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the

Senja District Court Senja District Court ( no, Senja tingrett) was a district court located in the town of Finnsnes in Troms county, Norway. The court served the central and southeastern part of the county which included the municipalities of Bardu, Berg, Dyrøy, L ...

and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Sørreisa is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows: Biskop Herborg Oline Finnset (2017) (37177981266)

Biskop Herborg Oline Finnset (2017) (37177981266)

Notable people

* Amalie Øvergaard (1874 in Sørreisa – 1960) a Norwegian women's leader *

Berger Torrissen Berger Torrissen or Birger Tørrissen (September 16, 1901 – February 28, 1991) was an American skier. He was born in Sørreisa Municipality, Norway, and later immigrated to the United States. He competed for the United States in Nordic co ...

(1901 in Sørreisa – 1991) an American skier, competed in the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

for the USA *

Willy Ovesen Willy Ovesen (1 June 1924 – 3 January 2015) was a Norwegian civil servant. He was born in Sørreisa Municipality, graduated with the cand.jur. degree and worked in the Norwegian Tax Administration from 1956. He was promoted to county tax direct ...

(1924 in Sørreisa – 2015) a Norwegian civil servant, director of the Norwegian Tax Administration from 1982 to 1994 *

Herborg Finnset Herborg Oline Finnset (born 28 March 1961 in Sørreisa, Troms) is a Norwegian prelate of the Church of Norway who is the Bishop of Nidaros as of 2018. Biography Finnset was pastor of Strinda parish in the Diocese of Nidaros, and later became Dean ...

(born 1961 in Sørreisa) a Norwegian prelate of the Church of Norway and the Bishop of Nidaros from 2018 *

Tore Rismo Tore Rismo (born 29 January 1961) is a retired Norwegian football midfielder. Hailing from Sørreisa, he lived with his family in Belgium from age 12 to 15, then returned home and started playing senior football for Sørreisa IL. After one s ...

(born 1961 in Sørreisa) a retired Norwegian football midfielder *

Siri Pettersen Siri Pettersen (born 28 October 1971 in Finnsnes) is a Norwegian writer of YA fantasy novels, whose first trilogy '' The Raven Rings'' (2013-15) have been translated into several languages, including English and German. In younger years, she was a ...

(born 1971) a Norwegian writer and comics creator, brought up in Sørreisa

Gallery

File:Kramvigbrygga 001.jpg, Kramvigbrygga, part of Midt-Troms museum File:Sørreisa, Norway - panoramio.jpg, Sørreisa, Norway File:Bognes soerreisa 2007.jpg, M/S Bognes, Soerreisa 2007 File:Sørreisa church.jpg, Sørreisa church

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sorreisa Municipalities of Troms og Finnmark 1886 establishments in Norway