A museum unique in Europe
The Museum of the Memory of Walls and Men in Verneuil-en-Halatte is the fruit of 40 years of research and the passion of one man, Serge Ramond, curator and founder. He first became interested in graffiti on the walls of several Picardy churches in 1969.
Built in art-deco style, this museum is now a unique place for preserving drawings and writings engraved in stone, representing 10,000 years of evidence from prehistory to the 20th century. The entire collection is displayed in 22 rooms on 4 levels.
Exceptional war stories
At the Mémoire des Murs et des Hommes museum, you can discover graffiti from the First and Second World Wars. It is a collection of several hundred casts of graffiti engraved and sculpted by French, British, American and German soldiers who remained in the underground quarries of Picardy during the First World War. There are also testimonies from Gestapo prisoners in the form of writings and messages dating from the 2nd World War.
The remains
The museum also exhibits archaeological collections discovered in Verneuil-en-Halatte from Prehistory to the Renaissance. Prehistoric art is represented by objects ranging from the Palaeolithic to the regional Neolithic: fossils, carved flints and a skeleton over 5,000 years old.
Objects found during excavations at the Gallo-Roman site of Bufosse in Verneuil-en-Halatte are on display, including coins, iron oil lamps, fibulae and a bronze colander from the 3rd century, as well as a model of the farm in the 4th century.
There is also an area devoted to the remains of the former Château de Verneuil, a prestigious building designed by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau and completed by Salomon de Brosse. Carved stone, fragments of decorations and statues, and 17th-century Delft earthenware tiles bear witness to the splendour of this residence.
The sea and boats
This museum takes you on a voyage of discovery of the boats depicted by sailors and boatmen from the 16th to the 18th century.
Large groups of casts are also on display, evoking the everyday world of European sailors. They show different types of boat, sailing on sea or river, used for trade, fishing or war. These graffiti are used as votive offerings on the walls.
