Kirsten Munchs house

Listen to the story in Halmstad Stories

Kirsten Munch's house is one of the stops on the Historical City Walk in Halmstad Stories. External link, opens in new window. Here you can take a walk in central Halmstad whenever you want and have 19 historical places told to you by an audio guide. The historical city walk has been created in collaboration with the Gamla Halmstad association.

Kirsten Munch

But his magnificent house on Storgatan is named after someone else - Kirsten Munch. According to a legend, she lived in the house when she was mistress to the Danish king Christian IV. There is even said to have been a secret underground passage from here to the Palace. But a search of the basement reveals no such traces. Nor is there any historical evidence to back up these claims, which began to spread in the early 19th century. On the contrary! Christian IV and Kirsten Munch married in 1615, before this house was built. They had several children together. However, as Kirsten Munch is of lower rank than Christian IV, neither she nor the children have inheritance rights or the same status as the king. But she ended up giving her name to a house that she never lived in. Gossip can be tenacious. What is found in the basement, however, are brick cross vaults, which could be a remnant from the time before the city fire.

The Fallken shop

With the appearance of the successful merchant Gustav Falck, a new chapter is written in the history of the house. He was born in Marstrand in 1814 and moved to Halmstad at the age of 25. In 1848, he opened the Falken shop on the ground floor, and ten years later he was able to buy the entire property. Over the years, Gustav Falck built up a large fortune and was also generous with donations. Among other things, he donated SEK 70,000 to the Lutheran Missionary Church. The money was used to build the magnificent Immanuel Church, which was completed on Strandgatan in 1900.

The business started by Gustav Falck becomes a classic that lives on for more than 150 years in Halmstad. Even the new owners who take over retain the Falkens name. For the last 50 years, they sell mainly carpets, bedding and curtains, and the shop continues to operate until 2011.

The Halland Museum Association

The green building has also contributed to Halmstad's art life. The Halland Museum Association bought the house in 1917 with the intent of displaying its collections here. However, it soon decided to build a new museum on the banks of the Nissan River instead. The association kept the house on Storgatan, and when it was sold, after almost a hundred years, it yielded a profit that contributed to the major expansion of the Halland Art Museum.

The green bricks

We end with a closer look at the beautiful green glazed brick. After 400 years, most of it is still there and each stone shimmers in different shades, almost like a work of art. We also see some bricks look newer, more rectangular and of a little darker green. They were created by artist and ceramicist Thomas Frisk to replace stones damaged during a renovation in the 1960s. Today, this shimmering green ancient house is a listed building.