MAX IV is a next-generation synchrotron radiation facility in Lund, Sweden. Its design and planning has been carried out within the Swedish national laboratory, MAX-lab, which up until 2015 operated three storage rings for synchrotron radiation research: MAX I, MAX II and MAX III. MAX-lab supported about 1000 users from over 30 countries annually. The facility operated 14 beamlines with a total of 19 independent experimental stations, supporting a wide range of experimental techniques such as macromolecular crystallography, electron spectroscopy, nanolithography and production of tagged photons for photo-nuclear experiments. The facility closed on 13 December 2015 in preparation for MAX IV.