Glassworks Museum

The Surte Glassworks Museum near Alafors in West Gotland, 25 km north of Göteborg, commemorates a works that produced utilitarian glass ware for everyday use rather than works of art. It was founded in 1862 and continued production until 1978. It manufactured bottles for beer, soft drinks, milk and perfumes, as well as glass containers of other kinds, such as carboys for chemicals. Alexander Samuelson (1862-1934), who designed the celebrated Coca-cola bottle in 1915 was employed at the Surte works until he emigrated to the United States in 1883. Features of the museum include a huge collection of bottles, most of them manufactured at Surte, a representation of a glass furnace showing how workers collected molten glass which they blew into bottle shapes, and displays showing the everyday lives of glassworkers in the 1930s, with a shop of that period.