It is located in the East India House (Swedish: Ostindiska huset), originally built as the Swedish East India Company offices in 1762.

It displays Gothenburg and West Sweden's history, from the Viking Age to the present day.

Its founders were Sven Adolf Hedlund, AF Ericsson, August Malm and Victor von Gegerfelt.

The merchant John West Wilson paid for a fourth wing which opened in May 1891 shortly after his death.

Between 1993 and 1996, several of the city's museums on archaeology, general history and the history of industry, education and theatre merged to form the Gothenburg City Museum.