The museum’s benefactors: portraits of knowledgeable amateurs

An associate member of the Académie from 1886, who was one of the founders of the Société Préhistorique Française in 1904, Louis-Gilbert Lafay wrote many articles on local archaeology and objects he discovered in the Saône and around Mâcon.

In 2017, two Merovingian belt buckles in his collection were acquired by the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale, following a long period of ownership by the Protat family.

Jules Protat (1852-1906) ran a printing works in Mâcon while pursuing a keen interest in archaeology. In 1883, he unearthed remains related to the Gallo-Roman necropolis beneath where the Caisse d’Épargne bank now stands, on the corner of Rue Gabriel Jeanton and Rue Charles Rolland. With as many as 70 graves, it contained a large number of glass and ceramic goods. Part of his collection was exhibited in Paris, in 1900, at the Exposition Centennale de l’Art Français.