A fixture on the city's cultural scene since Victorian times, this hulking red-brick museum recently received a £24 million revamp. It's a treasure trove of rambling rooms, filled with glass cases of curiosities and archaeological finds – from samurai armour, African masks and Egyptian mummies in the World Cultures galleries to a truly amazing echinoderm collection of starfish and sea urchins amassed by the inveterate Victorian collector Walter Percy Sladen. Exeter's own history also figures strongly.
The museum's 8000-strong fine-art collection is also impressive: look out for works by Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Stanhope Forbes and Barbara Hepworth. Local landscape artists are particularly well represented.
