Jan Inge Hovig

Jan Inge Hovig was a Norwegian architect who is especially known for public buildings in Northern Norway built in the period after World War II. Hovig completed his studies at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1946. From 1947 to 1950, he was the city architect in Narvik during the reconstruction of the city that had been bombed in 1940. In 1950, he moved to Oslo where he established his own architectural office. He is most famous for the Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø, which he designed the first draft of in 1960 and which was completed in 1965. This church is considered Tromsø's most famous building. Hovig also designed several other churches, cinemas, swimming pools, exhibition halls, and administrative buildings in various locations in Norway. Hovig represented Norway at the Architecture Exhibition during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Hovig married Norwegian television chef and author Ingrid Espelid Hovig in June 1977, but only a week after the wedding ceremony, he died of a heart attack. He was buried at Vestre gravlund in Oslo.