It is the only such establishment in Europe and can be found, since 2002, in the corner building (the water tower) of the Czestochowa Match Industry Factory. The exhibitions are held in two halls and on the factory floor where there is a working match production line from the 1930’s.

The main part of the museum is the factory which still produces matches. Visitors can see historic machinery or follow the production cycle from wood preparation, through the making of the sticks to packing in boxes. The factory was built in 1882 and was the first factory making matches in Poland. In 1930 it was modernised after the fire which destroyed it several years earlier.

The main hall houses the documents relating to the match industry and the exhibition of “Sculpture on a Match” by Anatol Karon. In the second hall is a phillumenist exhibition with a collection from the 20 years between the wars, post-war and contemporary match box labels. Among them is the famous series of Black Cat matches with a picture of a cat, which was the emblem of the Czestochowa plant.

Museum of Match Production – Czestochowa (woj. Slaskie)

www.zapalki.pl