Jøvik: Historic Trading Post and Chapel

Jøvik’s local history brings together a historic trading post, a factory complex, preserved buildings and the chapel. This combination is of interest when planning your trip if you are interested in the development of trade and industry and the architectural history of a place. These traces can be viewed at several scales: from an individual house and its furnishings to its connections with the surrounding cultural landscapes.

Trading Post and Preserved Buildings

The historic trading post of Jøvik is closely connected to the factory complex, which lies about 400 metres farther west. It is also linked to the surrounding cultural landscapes of Hjellnesvika and Jektevik. The trading post and its associated features are regarded as representative cultural heritage that bears witness to the development of trade and industry in northern Troms from the 18th century to the present day.

The preserved buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries include a large Bryggehus, a shop or country store with its sales counter and shelving completely intact, a Kårstua and a residential house. The sales counter and shelving in particular give the country store a distinctive architectural character. The factory complex, in turn, consists of several buildings and tanks clustered in a relatively small area by the sea. Different forms of historic industry thus stand side by side in the local landscape.

The trading post also includes a preserved section of an old paved village road. It is a few dozen metres long and runs between the Bryggen area and Jektevika, below the present-day Fv. 293. Together with the buildings, this stretch of road brings the built structure of the historic trading post to life; the factory complex lies separately, about 400 metres farther west.

The Kårstua probably dates from the time of innkeeper Johs. Holmboe in the 1820s or 1830s. The fireplace should also be preserved, alongside the exterior, so it can tell the story of cooking during the inn’s time. The building therefore combines an explicitly probable date with a specific theme from the history of the inn.

The cultural context also has a regional dimension: Jøvik is one of the basic statistical units in Tromsø where, according to the Ministry, a Sámi coastal (sjøsamisk) connection may exist.

The Architectural History of Jøvik Chapel

The present building of Jøvik Chapel was built as a school in 1920. After the school closed, the local missionary society bought the building in 1962; that same year, it was used as a prayer house. In the 1970s, it was extended and converted into a chapel to plans by Sigrun Lunde and Odd Borch. It was consecrated on 7 March 1976. The sequence of school construction, use as a prayer house and conversion into a chapel traces the building’s history over several decades.

The chapel is a wooden long church with 100 seats and a freestanding bell tower. The pulpit and baptismal font are made of pine; both were made by Nils Borch. The windows in the chancel’s end wall feature stained glass by Sigrun Lunde and Odd Borch from 1977. Chairs are arranged in the rectangular church interior, while the chancel is on a raised platform at the end of the room, one small step above the rest of the space. In addition to the dates, these details add architectural and artistic dimensions to the building’s history.

Road Connections

The county road Fv. 7900 between Laksvatn and Jøvik is 39 kilometres long. This road distance provides a regional scale alongside the more local details of the trading post, such as the factory complex’s location to the west. Together, these details help explain Jøvik’s local history and its place within the road network at different scales.

Discover more destinations: Tromvik, Brensholmen, Skulsfjord, Rornes, Straumsbukta, Vengsøy, Vikran, Oldervik.

For the full travel guide: Tromsø.