In the 18th century, in the halls of the Local Council and in the Palace of the county there were already portraits of emperors, commanders and local dignitaries. Some of these were signed by some masters from Vienna or from Budapest, and some by local artists. Sava Petrovič, Konstantin Daniel, Melegh Gábor and later, in the second half of the century, Johann Wälder or Ferenczy József were called to finalize the portraits in the council hall of the town-hall's palace.The town rarely purchased works of the artists from Banat. Thus, at the begenning of the 20th century two compositions of big dimensions were bought and laid down at the museum: "The Wedding from Cana" (a copy after Veronese) of Brocky Károly and "The Colonization of the Schwabs in Banat" of Stefan Jäger.

The collection of old art has been constituted since 1928 and contains especially icons on wood and painting on canvas of a local origin. It was rhythmically completed with acquisitions, donations and transfers, especially after 1960, counting nowadays more than one thousand of pieces. Chronologically integrating between the 17th and the 19th centuries, the collection thus completed has a heterogeneous shade, including icons originating in Wallachia, Transylvania and isolated in Maramuresh, Russia, Ukraina and Greece.

The metal objects collection constitutes a part of the Museum of Art heritage. Thanks to the objects made of common metal, some important moments of the European metal craftsmanship are presented, and also the influence of the western technical and artistic innovations upon the local production. The main features of the collection are the metal-working techniques, the diversity of the morphological types and of the decorative repertoire. The objects come from the Ormós collection, from the Ciupe and Moga transfers, from donations and aquisitions.

The museum's collection counts about five hundred European paintings, being one of the largest and most important collections of European art in Romania. The items originate primarily from a private collection formed in the latter half of the nineteenth century: that of the Ormós Zsigmond (1813-1894).