The Matchstick Museum

One of the most fascinating parts of the museum is the story of the Matchstick King, Ivar Kreuger. In the 1920s, Kreuger, an engineer and financier, took control of all Swedish match factories and created the Swedish Match Company, which soon held a monopoly on the world’s match production. Kreuger’s power extended across the globe, but his empire eventually collapsed in a financial scandal that shook both Sweden and the rest of the world.

The history of matches dates back to the mid-1800s when brothers Johan and Carl Lundström began producing the first phosphorus matches in Jönköping. This dangerous invention, which contained toxic yellow phosphorus, led to many workers, especially children, suffering from fatal poisoning. It was only later, when chemist Gustaf Erik Pasch developed the safety match, replacing phosphorus with non-toxic red phosphorus, that the industry began to grow in a more sustainable direction. This invention, which made matches both safer and more useful, quickly spread across the world.

The museum provides a vivid picture of how the workers, many of them children, struggled with difficult working conditions. In the Matchstick Workers’ Home, visitors get a glimpse into how families lived during that time, where working in the factory was often the only way to survive. Around a third of Jönköping’s population, about 2,000 people, were employed at the factories during their peak. It is a story that not only deals with industrial success but also with the harsh conditions for those who built the industry.