Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland

On his death, Gabriel de Rumine, son of Russian nobility, left the city of Lausanne 1.5 million Swiss Francs to erect a building for the use of the public. Building began in 1892 according to the design of the Lyonnais architect Gaspard André. The building was inaugurated on the 3 November 1902, although building work continued until 1904.

On 24 July 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in Palais de Rumine.

It housed facilities such as the library of the University of Lausanne, and scientific and artistic collections belonging to the Canton of Vaud. In the 1980s, the university moved to its current location by Lake Geneva due to lack of space, and the Palais was restructured.

The building currently hosts one of the three sites of the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne. Additionally, it contains several museums like Musée cantonal des beaux-arts (Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts), Musée cantonal d'archéologie et d'histoire (Cantonal Museum of Archeology and History) and Musée monétaire cantonal (Cantonal Museum of Money).

References:

Wikipedia

Palaces, manors and town halls in Switzerland

User Reviews

SOUMYANANDA GOSWAMI (5 months ago)
Honestly, the Archaeology, Geology and Zoology sections are worth the visit. Keep about 1.5-2 hours in hand and slightly more if you come with curious kids. There are washrooms within the museum and outside. There's also a cafeteria. If you need more information, feel free to contact the museum staff.

Daniel Uribe (17 months ago)
Not too Child friendly

Guy Romagnoli (20 months ago)
Fantasticwith the Lightshow on. December 2020

Anubha Shukla (2 years ago)
We visited during the Lausanne Lumière festival. Very scenic the play of light was brilliant. It costs nothing, you can park your car or take public transport...buy take away food or carry your own...sit and enjoy the view. There are many shops and cafes in this area. Several of the sites are walking distance from one another. The site starts every evening 6pm during December all the way to Christmas. Do dress warm and check for rains beforehand.

Robert Riegel (2 years ago)
The top floor is full of an incredible collection of animals on display, The building is very nice and centrally location. In addition, the majority of the exhibits are free to enter.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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