The main reason for establishing the museum was to prevent the sale and export of antiques abroad and to collect and present to the public exhibits related to the history of Prague and the life of its people.

[2] It was clear from the outset that the café pavilion was too small to house the museum’s collections and unrepresentative of its ambitions, so after much deliberation, it was decided to construct a new building.

It is a two-storey building consisting of two symmetrical side wings with a central avant-corps with a tympanum containing a relief (named History with Art, Science and Crafts Creates the Glory of Our Past) by Ladislav Šaloun topped by the sculpture Allegory of Prague by the same artist.

The decoration of the museum’s main building includes a number of interesting exhibits from demolished Prague houses from the period of the city’s major redevelopment in the late 19th century, such as the particularly striking painted ceilings from Prague’s Renaissance townhouses (e.g. “U Císařských” on Wenceslas Square or the Egg Market house) and the coffered ceiling from the Pauline Monastery in the Old Town.

Some of the rooms are decorated with distinctive stone exhibits from the area of historical Prague, such as tombstones and portals, as well as elements from the Gothic Powder Gate Tower and an authentic vault from an Old Town Square house.

The staircase of the main museum building is decorated with a cyclorama by Antonio Sacchetti called View of Prague from the Lesser Town Bridge Tower.