The museum contains literally thousands of exhibits about the cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz people, whose sculptures and objects date from antiquity to the end of the 20th century.

[2] During the 1920s and 1930s, one of the objectives was to complete certain ethnographic and archaeological collections, therefore, the construction of a museum to store different types of cultural and historical artifacts of Kyrgyzstan was proposed.

[9] The museum has several cave sculptures from the Bronze Age, as well as a series of collections of ancient coins and many ethnographic objects, jewelry and clothing from the 1st to the 5th century.

[8][10] Also, the museum contains various photographs and documents about the formation and development of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic.

[12] In 2016, renovation work began on parts of the museum funded by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.