Kinsarvik sits where the Hardangerfjord splits into its major arms. In the Viking Age this was one of the most important settlements in inner Hardanger. The gradual riverbanks at the mouth of the Kinso river made it ideal for building and repairing longships. A ship shed called Skiparstod once stood here, large enough for two vessels.
The army ship Hardinggeiti was kept there, and its sails and mast were stored in the church loft during winter to keep them dry. The stone church was built around 1160, replacing an earlier wooden one from about 1050. Building in stone was expensive and reserved for places of importance. Think of Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger. The fact that Kinsarvik got a stone church tells you how significant this place was. In the Middle Ages it served as market, courthouse, and regional church all in one.
The Fjordungsting, one of four district assemblies in each county, was held here until 1650. During the Reformation in 1536, the Catholic paintings inside were whitewashed. For over 400 years they stayed hidden. In 1961 the original frescos were uncovered and restored, including a medieval painting of the Archangel Michael weighing souls. Check locally for opening hours.
Kinsarvik is also home to Hardanger Bestikk, one of Scandinavia's largest cutlery producers. In 1958, 26-year-old Odd Leikvoll moved from Bergen to Kinsarvik, following his heart (and a hairdresser apprentice named Kirsten). When the silverware factory he worked at in Bergen went bankrupt, he bought the tools and started making spoons in a borrowed barn. The family business is still here, still designing and developing cutlery inspired by the fjord and mountains around them. T
oday Kinsarvik is mostly a junction village. It is the starting point for Dronningstien and Husedalen. The ferry to Utne leaves from here. Until the 1970s this was the busiest ferry port in Norway, a crucial junction on the only year-round road between Bergen and Oslo. Then new routes opened and traffic shifted. The Hardanger Bridge, 12 kilometres north, opened in 2013 and changed things again.
