Limerick Museum opened to the public in 1916 and remained in Pery Square until 1975.

In 2012, the museum was moved to a temporary location Civic Buildings, Merchant's Quay due to the refurbishment and expansion of King John's Castle.

Since then, the full-time museum curators included: Larry Walsh (1977–2012),[3] Brian Hodkinson (2012–2017) and Dr Matthew Potter (2017–present).

It has a collection of sixty-two thousand objects gathered through donations, purchase and long-term loan.

The first exhibition was in 1940 to commemorate the centenary of the death of Limerick novelist Gerald Griffin.