11 million matchsticks later

Janusz Urbanski, a Polish miner and ironworker, has a one of a kind chessboard he never plays, a personalised guitar he does not strum and a boat he cannot sail. Why? They are all made from tens of thousands of matches.

A replica of the truck made from matchsticks by Janusz Urbanski is pictured at his flat in Ruda Slaska, Poland. All photographs: Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Think you can ‘match’ his tune?  A guitar made from matchsticks.

A replica of mine shaft made by Janusz Urbanski. For the last 40 years, the former Polish miner and ironworker has harboured a passion to build replicas of objects, buildings and famous sites with just matchsticks and glue.

Can you count the matchsticks Urbanski has used to build this replica of the Holy Spirit Church in Ruda Slaska?

This may be the lightest bridge ever! That’s a replica of the famous Golden Gate bridge, if you couldn’t figure it out.

Checkmate! Might be difficult to figure the blacks from whites on this chessboard made from matchsticks.

Janusz Urbanski holds a matchstick replica of mine shaft in Ruda Slaska, Poland.

A replica of the Gornik Zabrze stadium made from matchsticks.