The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon is one of the main museums in the city. It is housed in the former palace of the Dukes of Burgundy and has an amazing collection of objects and artifacts produced during the golden age of the Duchy of Burgundy (including the famous tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy), when Burgundy and Dijon were among the most important and active European cultural centers. Founded by the decree of 1787, it is one of the oldest French museums, although the project to build the museum dates back to 1783: it was in fact necessary to facilitate the teaching of the pupils of the drawing school (école du dessin) by collecting works that could serve as models. The vast collection of the museum (over 130,000 works) brings together works from antiquity to the contemporary era of all genres: painting, sculpture, drawing, decorative arts. The medieval collections are undoubtedly the most important, for their quality and quantity. Further prestigious pieces in the collection are also the funerary portraits of Fayoum (Roman Egypt), European painting from the Renaissance to the 19th century, with works by Titian, Guido Reni, Philippe de Champaigne, Delacroix, Géricault, Manet and Monet. There is also a large collection of works by Burgundian artists, perhaps little known to non-native audiences in the region despite their importance.