Listen to Isbjørnen

In Ishøj Byhave, there is a sculpture called The Polar Bear, created by the sculptor Sven Bovin (1915–2000). The sculpture is carved from granite and was installed in 1979. Sven Bovin worked in a way that involved searching for the right stone with a specific motif in mind.

He needed to find a stone that could become a polar bear. He found it in a gravel pit in Northern Jutland. The stone that The Polar Bear is carved from dates back to the Ice Age. Sven Bovin was born in 1915 in Frederikshavn. He trained as a stonemason under his father, Charles Oluf Frans Bovin, and became a journeyman in 1934.

As an artist, he was self-taught. At age 21, he took over his father’s stonemasonry workshop in Frederikshavn. The majority of Sven Bovin’s sculptures, busts, and reliefs are displayed in Vendsyssel.