Fitzwilliam Museum

The Fitzwilliam owes its existence to one man's will. Richard FitzWilliam, seventh Viscount FitzWilliam, left his paintings, books and music, plus money to build a home for them, to the University of Cambridge when he died in 1816. The grand columned building that resulted was begun by George Basevi, an architect who died mid-project in 1845 by falling from the bell tower of Ely Cathedral while inspecting repairs.

Inside is a rich, compact collection for a university town, with Titian and Veronese, Dutch still lifes, French Impressionists, illuminated manuscripts and a celebrated run of Chinese ceramics. Those ceramics are the source of the museum's oddest modern story. In 2006 a visitor caught his shoelace, tumbled down a staircase and shattered three Qing dynasty vases that had sat on a windowsill for decades. Conservators spent months piecing the hundreds of fragments back together, and the mended vases returned to display, this time safely behind glass.