Morlanwelz, Musée de Mariemont

About a year ago, I visited the exposition on the Celts in the Musée de Mariemont in Morlanweltz, which is east of Charleroi in Belgium. The exposition dealt with the ethnogenesis of the Celts in Bohemia, and also deals with the way in which many of them later settled in northern France. There were many objects from museums in Central Europe, some of them really beautiful.

However, it was the museum itself that impressed me most. The collection of local Roman objects in the basement covers the entire province of Hainaut, which is more or less the area of the ancient Nervians. Because this tribe also lived in France, objects from across the border are included (e.g., from Bavay). Especially the Frankish warrior tombs were great, and I really liked a statuette of a very cute Venus (the “Venus of Kortrijk”). To be honest: it is only the second time that I found an ancient representation of a naked woman really attractive (the other one being the Esquiline Venus).

On the first floor, you will find many delightful objects from Greece (some of the from the Franz Cumont legacy), Rome, and Egypt. There is also a collection of Chinese art and you will find a couple of cuneiform tablets. The Egyptian-Hellenistic part (the collection of the Mr. Raoul Warocqué) is the best, but the most beautiful object is a room with ancient fresco’s. I was also impressed by a well-preserved statue of Artemis.

The museum also has a collection of porcelain, which I did not visit. The Musée de Mariemont is situated in a delightful park. The town of Morlanweltz itself is along the ancient road that, as a straight line through the region, connected Cambrai, Bavay, Binche, Tongeren, and Maastricht. We drove down to Bavay, which was worth the detour. All in all, the Musée de Mariemont is something I can recommend.

This museum was visited in 2007.

10 pictures related to this museum

Peronnes-Lez-Antoing, Milestone	Copy of the Zeus of Phidias	Berenice II	Hephaestus, Thetis, and the arms of Achilles.
Ptolemy X Alexander	Arsinoe II	Bagacum, Bronze statuette of female deity	Two figurines of the Matres
Head of a Parthian	Rhodes, Portrait of Alexander the Great