Looks like a church, feels like a museum

Here's a photograph of the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris -- it's essentially a museum of the history of science and engineering, with an emphasis on the latter. They have great displays on scientific instruments, energy generation, bridge building, communications, computers, robots, and so on. It is a cool, geeky, science and rational-thinking kind of place, and definitely not on the usual "top five things to do in Paris" list. That's a shame, because the museum is a real treat. Many displays work for kids too, with nice interactive learning experiences. My son learned how to build a classic Roman arch, and how a back-and-forth piston in a steam train works, for example.

All of that would be only moderately interesting, but look again at the picture (click it for a larger image): the museum space looks a bit -- ecclesiastical. That's not an accident -- the it used to be a church (an abbey church actually, but close enough). There is something wonderfully ironic about a museum dedicated to the accumulation of scientific, rational knowledge being housed in an abandoned church. +10 points to the first comment that analogizes on the "beating swords into plow shears" biblical verse.