The Maison Tavel is the oldest private house in Geneva still standing, parts of it dating to the 12th century. It sits on rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre in the Vieille Ville and has been a museum since 1986, housing the city's collection of objects relating to Genevan history and urban life.
The building itself is the main attraction: medieval vaulted cellars, Gothic windows, a grand hall with a decorated frieze of animal heads on the facade. The collection inside covers daily life in Geneva from the 14th to 19th centuries, with furniture, coins, maps, engravings, and the remarkable large-scale copper-relief model of Geneva made by Augustin Magnin in the 1850s — a room-sized topographic model of the city before the old walls were demolished. Admission is free; closed Mondays.