3 Best Sights in Geneva, Switzerland

The museum that sources this humbling exhibition of original texts—from cuneiform tablets, papyrus scrolls, and parchment to a dizzying array of first editions—maps the history of human thought. Dramatic displays of bas-reliefs and dimly lighted Egyptian books of the dead give way to Homer's Iliad; handwritten Gospels according to Matthew and John; exquisite copies of the Koran; a perfectly preserved Gutenberg Bible; Shakespeare (the complete works, published in 1623); an autographed score by Mozart; Oliver Twist; the Communist Manifesto; and Alice in Wonderland. A comprehensive printed guide is available in English. Energetic sightseers can get here on foot; otherwise, take the A bus from Rond-point de Rive and get off at Cologny-Temple. The ride takes 12 minutes.

Vaulted cellars and ground-floor kitchens display medieval graffiti, 15th-century tiles, and a guillotine in Geneva's oldest house, now a museum focused on life in the city from 1334 to the 1800s. Seventeenth-century ironwork, doors, and other fragments of long-demolished houses fill the first floor; a bourgeois home complete with 18th-century wallpaper is re-created on the second. The enormous Magnin Model (which depicts Geneva as it looked before its elaborate defense walls came down in 1850) is housed in the attic. Audio guides are available in English, French, German, and Russian.

Large, evocative wildlife dioramas complete with sound effects cover most major animal types at this spacious museum. Large quantities of fossils, gigantic crystals, precious stones, and a case full of polyhedrons ensure that the place is always swarming with local school groups. Swiss geology, the history of the solar system, and thematic temporary exhibits round out the collection; most labels are in French. The museum is a short walk away on the outskirts of the Vieille Ville.