Saint Valentine by respectable modern scholars. In the French 14th-century manuscript illumination from a "Vies des Saints" ("illustration above"), Saint Valentine, bishop of Terni, oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni; there is no suggestion here that the bishop was a patron of lovers. During the Middle Ages, it was believed that birds paired in mid-February. This was then associated with the romance of Valentine. Although these legends differ, Valentine’s Day is widely recognized as a day for romance and devotion. The flower-crowned alleged skull of St. Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. St. Valentine's
The Valentine his collection of art and artifacts, the 1812 John Wickham House and a $50,000 endowment. Their collection of art and artifacts was the foundation of the exhibitions, when the Valentine Museum opened in 1898. Part of the original intent of the founding of the museum was to display these archeological artifacts in perpetuity, after the family was embarrassed by an archeological hoax in North Carolina. When it opened, the Valentine Museum was the first private museum in the City of Richmond Mann S. Valentine II's brother Edward Virginius Valentine also had an interest in history and was a well-known sculptor.