The collection was set up in 1835 by Bertrand Clauzel and curated by Louis-Adrien Berbrugger.

Up until 1896, the museum had been moved to several different locations, until it settled on the Mustapha Pasha hills and was officially inaugurated there in 1897.

According to the Algerian ministry of culture, "criminals" used the agitation from the street protests to penetrate the museum, break and steal some of the pieces exhibited, start fires in the administration offices, and destroy registry documents.

The same incident had almost happened a week before but the looters had been contained by the police.

[3] A few days later, the Algerian authorities announced that the artefacts stolen from the museum had been recovered (mainly swords and guns from the 1950s) and that the fire had actually taken place in an aisle that was under renovation.