Prior to the partition, much of the collections of art objects, paintings and sculptures present here were housed in the Central Museum, Lahore, the then capital of Punjab.

Envisaged as a vehicle for transmission of knowledge in the Second Five Year Plan and the National Education Policy, it serves as a unique cultural and historical resource for the region.

Having a significant collection of Gandhara sculptures, Pahari miniature paintings and contemporary Indian art, it is regularly visited by tourists, artists, scholars and students.

The ensemble to study its architectural values as it represents the series of museums designed by Le Corbusier.

The pivoted entrance, metal-panelled door, fixed furniture, display systems, and exposed concrete sculpturesque gargoyles are symbolic of the prevailing style of Chandigarh's architecture.

The mural in the museum reception area executed by one of India's finest contemporary artists, Satish Gujral adds colour to the otherwise stark exposed concrete building.

A special section is dedicated to Dr. M. S. Randhawa, containing archival records of his correspondence on the Making of Chandigarh, available to scholars in a digitized version.

The first level is 33,000 sq ft comprising the Deputy Curator's office, museum shop, reception, textile section, child art gallery, exhibition hall, reserve collection stores, conservation laboratory and auditorium.

Level 3 is 6,500 sq ft and has the library, chairman's room, and Gandhara sculptures’ reserve collection store.

The collections received in April 1949 from Pakistan were first housed in Amritsar, then Shimla, Patiala and were finally shifted to Chandigarh upon the inauguration of the museum in 1968.

18th and 19th century Devanagari, Gurmukhi and Persian manuscripts from Kullu, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Punjab are displayed at the museum.

A collection of artwork by artists such as Abanindra Nath Tagore, Akbar Padamsee, Amrita Sher-Gil, Bhupen Khakhar, Bireswar Sen, FN Souza, Jamini Roy, MF Husain, Nandalal Bose, Nicholas Roerich, OP Sharma, Raja Ravi Varma, S. G. Thakur Singh, Sobha Singh, Tyeb Mehta and many others is also present at the museum.

Many drawings, sketches, and other works of Maciej Nowicki, Albert Mayer, Le Corbusier, Jane Drew, Maxwell Fry and Pierre Jeanneret relating to the city of Chandigarh are preserved and displayed here.