The Royal Museum of Mariemont has been housed in a building designed by Roger Bastin since 1975. The collection is the result of the eclectic collecting interests of Raoul Warocqué, a passionate intellectual and descendant of the Warocqué family, who founded in 1802 the coal mining company Société Minière du Parc de Mariemont. In 1827 founder Nicolas Warocqué bought some land to build his castle. Inspired by English landscape parks, Charles-Henri Petersen designed in 1832 the surrounding big grass fields, ponds and paths.

Today, the 45-hectare big park also includes one of the most beautiful Belgian arboretums. As the wealthy Raoul Warocqué travelled the world, he built his collections to include frescoes from Villa Boscoreale in Pompeii and masterpieces from Classical Antiquity and Egypt. Here you can discover the most important Chinese antiquities collection in Belgium and a Japanese teahouse, as well as regional collections such as artefacts from the Gallo-Romains and Merovingian’s or famous porcelain from Tournai.