Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Henri Boez Museum was founded in 1878, when Édouard Bertrand, a notary clerk in Maubeuge, initiated its creation with donations constituting the first collections. In 1893, he settled in a building bequeathed by Sidonia Fercot-Delmotte, temporarily named the Fercot-Delmotte Museum. In 1913 he moved to the Sthrau Hall, a former Jesuit chapel, but a fire caused by the German bombings in September 1914 completely destroyed the museum and almost all its collections.

After World War I, the reconstruction of the museum was initiated by Henri Boëz, founder of the Société des Amis de Maubeuge in 1926. The collections were gradually reconstructed, and in 1936 the museum returned to the Sthrau Hall, renovated by architects Jean and Henri Lafitte. During the Second World War, the works were evacuated to Beaumanoir in Normandy to protect them. The museum then settled in the former Chapter of the Chanoinesses until 1993, before migrating to the buildings of the Reconstruction, designed by André Lurçat.

Henri Boëz, who died in 1972 after more than 40 years of dedication, gave his name to the museum the same year. Today, the museum houses Gallo-Roman and Merovingian objects, local faiences (notably from Ferriere-la-Petite), as well as paintings by French and Flemish schools from the 17th to 19th centuries. Its history reflects the upheavals of Maubeuge, marked by successive conflicts and reconstructions.

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