Baton Rouge's main sights cluster around the capitol area and the riverfront. The twin capitol buildings — one Art Deco, one Gothic Revival — are the city's most distinctive landmarks and both are open to visitors.
The Capitol Park Museum at the foot of the New State Capitol covers Louisiana history from Native American cultures to the offshore oil era, with a full-size flatboat replica and vintage Mardi Gras floats. The USS Kidd, a World War II destroyer moored on the riverfront, is one of the few such ships in the country open for full deck-to-engine-room exploration.
The Old Louisiana Governor's Mansion and the Pentagon Barracks — both a short walk from the New State Capitol — round out the civic history of the bluff above the river. The Shaw Center for the Arts is the main performing arts venue and houses the LSU Museum of Art.
On the LSU campus, the Rural Life Museum and the grounds of Magnolia Mound Plantation are worth a half-day for anyone interested in Louisiana's plantation-era history and Creole architectural tradition. The LSU Campus Mounds, two 11,000-year-old earthworks tucked between the campus lakes, are easily missed but remarkable. Tiger Stadium — Death Valley — is open for tours on non-game days; attending a game in autumn is the definitive Baton Rouge experience.