The permanent displays include a plaster cast of the entirety of Trajan's Column, the Romanian Crown Jewels, and the Pietroasele treasure.

Built in an eclectic style, it is rectangular with a large porch on a high basement and three upper floors.

The stone façade features a portico supported by 10 Doric columns and a platform consisting of 12 steps spanning the length of the building.

[2] As of 2012[update], the museum is undergoing extensive restoration work and is only partially open; a late medieval archaeological site was discovered under the building.

[5] On 28 January, the Romanian minister of Culture Natalia Intotero fired the museum's director, Ernest Oberländer, saying that he had "failed to adequately protect the national heritage".