The Museum of the Matches represents the biggest filuministic collection of the Europe, initiated in 1953 by Aquiles de Mota Lima, recognized citizen of Tomar, which detached in cultural activities of great merit.

This collection, had its beginning in the ship trip that Aquiles de Mota Lima carried through to London, where he attended the crown of Queen Isabel II and met an American collector of boxes of matches.

Since then, the number of boxes increased every year and currently go up to around 43.000, representing 122 countries, pictures of famous painters, musical instruments, films, celebrities, precious jewels and rocks, myths and legends. Portugal was also represented since the first "amorphous".

Currently this richly collection belongs to the City Council of Tomar, once it was donated by the collector and installed in the Convent of San Francisco in 1980.

It deserves a visit!

Take a look to some of the units of boxes of matches commanded for the native countries

Note that same photos might not have the best quality due to poor caption conditions