[1][2] The main part of the museum is located in Finnegården, one of the conserved wooden buildings on Bryggen in Bergen, Norway.

As the collection increased, another building, Murtasken, was constructed from a drawing by the architect Conrad Fredrik von der Lippe (1833–1901) .

There is an authentic trading room in the museum including a merchant's office, sleeping places for the boys and a guestroom.

[5][6] All the items in the museum are original and were initially collected from Bryggen or from various surrounding farms by Johan Wilhelm Wiberg (1829–98).

His son, Christian Koren Wiberg (1870–1945) later built up the museum which became the responsibility of Bergen municipality in 1916.