The Palais de Rumine is a grandiose Florentine Renaissance building on the Place de la Riponne, housing five cantonal museums under one roof: fine arts, history, archaeology, geology, and zoology. The building itself is as impressive as its contents, with a grand hall and sweeping staircase that feel slightly over-scaled for the city around them.
The natural history collections are the most distinctive, and the zoology section contains a taxidermied great white shark that is genuinely startling when you come across it. Admission to the permanent collections is free. The building connects to the covered market in the Place de la Riponne, which is worth a stop if the Wednesday or Saturday market is on.