This building houses exhibitions on scientific, technical and industrial subjects. During the summer, the planetarium has a show devoted to the town itself.

This former town hall dates back to the 15C and housed the «Grandes Écoles» of the university and then the aldermen (it was a municipal tribunal under the Ancien Régime).

The museum occupies a building that stands in the place of the old Abbey of Sainte-Croix. One section shows rural living in Poitou, old trades, costumes and beliefs. Archaeological collections give the chronology of prehistorical Poitiers. Paintings, from the Dutch artist Nicolas Maes to Max Ernst, sculptures where Pradier sits side-by-side with medieval bas-reliefs and the workshop of local sculptor Jean-René Carrière (1888-1982) make this a maze crammed with charming discoveries.

Founded in the 9C and pillaged by the Normans in 878, this abbey was rebuilt in the 11C in record time. Although the conventual buildings are more recent (17C), the rest of the abbey is original. A handsome blend of harmony and sobriety, the abbey church is striking for its sheer size (76m long with a 31m-long transept and a spire rising to 77m). The Romanesque structure houses a remarkable series of wall paintings dating from 1080-1110, now on UNESCO's World Heritage List.