The museum is part of a 67-acre complex at Suhrawardy Udyan, the site from where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave his historic speech declaring the struggle for independence, and where the Pakistani forces surrendered after the War of Liberation.

[1] The underground museum is part of a master plan that includes a multimedia projection theater, an amphitheater, three water pools, Shikha Chirantony (eternal flame) symbolizing the eternity of Bengali nationalism, a mural based on the struggle for independence and other ancillary facilities.

Bangladeshi architects Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury and Marina Tabassum won a national design competition in 1997 and subsequently they were commissioned for the project.

[6][7] The museum has a collection of over 300 historic photographs in 144 glass panels that depict the history of Bangladesh.

A replica of the table, where the eastern zone commander of Pakistan Army Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi signed the surrender document, is kept in the gallery.