Rissa, Norway


Rissa is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county in Norway in the Fosen region. The municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution on 1 January 2018 when it became part of the municipality of Indre Fosen in Trøndelag county. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Årnset. Other villages in the municipality included Askjem, Hasselvika, Husbysjøen, Rørvika, Råkvåg, and Stadsbygd.
The municipality was the 179th largest by area out of the then 426 municipalities in Norway. Rissa was the 158th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,628. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 4.1% over the last decade.

General information

The municipality of Rissen was established in 1860 when it was separated from the big municipality of Stadsbygd. Initially, Rissen had 3,733 residents. The spelling was later changed to Rissa. On 1 January 1905, the southwestern district of Lensvik on the west side of the Trondheimsfjord was separated from Rissa to form a municipality of its own. This left Rissa with 3,394 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, most of Stadsbygd municipality and the southern part of the municipality of Stjørna were merged with Rissa to form a new, enlarged municipality of Rissa.
On 1 January 2018, the neighboring municipalities of Rissa and Leksvik merged to form the new municipality of Indre Fosen which became part of the new Trøndelag county on the same date.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Rissi. This was probably the old name of the brackish basin of Botn. Even though this is a heavily land-locked fjord with a river-like inlet from the Trondheimsfjord. The name is probably derived from the verb rísa which means "raise" or "rise". The name of the municipality was historically spelled Rissen.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 23 January 1987. The arms show a silver crown on a green background. The crown is that of Skule Bårdsson as it is depicted on an old tombstone at the Nidaros Cathedral. Bårdsson was the founder of Rein kloster and the accompanying farm and Rein estate, which lies in the municipality. The crown is a typical headdress used by the medieval Norwegian Dukes.

Churches

The Church of Norway had four parishes within the municipality of Rissa. It was part of the Fosen prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
HasselvikaHasselvika ChurchHasselvika1951
RissaRissa ChurchLeira1888
RissaRein ChurchReinsgrenda1932
StadsbygdStadsbygd ChurchStadsbygd1842
Sør-StjørnaRamsvik ChurchRåkvåg1909
Sør-StjørnaFrengen ChurchFrengen1972

History

In April 1978, Rissa was home to a quick-clay landslide which encompassed an area of and sent of clay from the Årnset area on the shore into Botn, causing a miniature tsunami on the north shore in Leira. This slide is particularly famous because a large portion of the slide happened to be recorded on film by two .

Government

The municipal government of Rissa was responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Rissa was made up of 23 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Geography

The municipality is located on the southern end of the Fosen peninsula along the Trondheimsfjord and the Stjørnfjord. The large lake Storvatnet lies on the eastern border with Lensvik. To the north were the municipalities of Åfjord, Bjugn, and Ørland.
The Flakk–Rørvik Ferry crosses the Trondheimsfjord and connected the village of Rørvik with the city of Trondheim.