The finds brought together by this great patron make it possible to follow the history of the Haine valley from protohistory to the 7th century of our era, through the Iron Age, the Roman conquest and domination and infiltration and settlement by the Franks.

The collection then increased through purchases, gifts and submissions as well as the products of digs carried out by the Museum in Fontaine-Valmont and in Thuin.

This assemblage ideally conjures up the daily life of our distant ancestors in its numerous facets.

Therefore it is essentially documentary, but it nonetheless includes prestigious or exceptional items, such as Merovingian jewellery of gold and silver from the princely necropolis of Trivières, Gallo-Roman bronze statuettes from Bavay and the Roman milestone rediscovered in its original place in Péronnes-lez-Binche, along the great Roman highway connecting the North Sea with the Rhine.