Hirvihaaran tulitikkutehdas, or Hirvihaara's match factory was built in 1926. During the construction of the factory an accident occured on friday 13th of November 1925. The owner Herman Holmberg and one engineer were seriously injured, when a machine for drying matches fell on them. Holmberg died later that year, and never got the chance to see the factory in action. His wife, who was widowed, sold the factory to Swedish Kreuger match company, which decided to shut down the factory already in 1929.
On 2002 the factory was severely damaged when arsonists tried to burn it down. After that several different parties have tried to renovate the factory, but have never managed to get it done.
We really got there at the last possible moment, since now they have started to renovate the factory into loft apartments. One part of the factory was already a building site, with nothing interesting to see but scaffolding. Otherwise the factory was pretty empty with no machinery left. But it's still one of the most amazing places I've ever visited. It's located near a river and it was just beautiful.
Outside the factory. As you can see, there's a huge part of roof missing on the right hand side of the building.
I think this is where the fire started to spread in 2002. This used to be the office part of the facroty. It's located on the second floor. We had to climb some seriously rotten stairs to get here.
Here's another part of the factory where the roof is missing. You can see the whole of that area here:
Going up to the attic to see this:
This is from the street level part of the factory. Moss was groving everywhere on the floor. Big windows gave us a bit of light.
Nature is taking over; trees are growing through the floor on the right hand side of the picture.
Any feedback is much appreciated
On 2002 the factory was severely damaged when arsonists tried to burn it down. After that several different parties have tried to renovate the factory, but have never managed to get it done.
We really got there at the last possible moment, since now they have started to renovate the factory into loft apartments. One part of the factory was already a building site, with nothing interesting to see but scaffolding. Otherwise the factory was pretty empty with no machinery left. But it's still one of the most amazing places I've ever visited. It's located near a river and it was just beautiful.
Outside the factory. As you can see, there's a huge part of roof missing on the right hand side of the building.
I think this is where the fire started to spread in 2002. This used to be the office part of the facroty. It's located on the second floor. We had to climb some seriously rotten stairs to get here.
Here's another part of the factory where the roof is missing. You can see the whole of that area here:
Going up to the attic to see this:
This is from the street level part of the factory. Moss was groving everywhere on the floor. Big windows gave us a bit of light.
Nature is taking over; trees are growing through the floor on the right hand side of the picture.
Any feedback is much appreciated
Last edited:
