Under a resolution of the USSR People's Commissariat, the residence was established as the State Historical Museum[3] in June 1920, just two months after the Bolsheviks took Baku.

In effect, it sought to promote the advantages of socialism and nurture the totalitarian regime's ideology in the rising generation.

Between 1925 and the 1960s, foundations were laid for the scientific investigation of ancient material and cultural monuments of Azerbaijan, under the direction of archaeologists such as Davud Sharifov, Yevgeniy Pakhomov, Ishak Jafar-Zadeh, Movsum Salamov, Saleh Gaziyev, and Mammadali Huseynov.

During 1941–1954, the Museum of History was moved to the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, and the Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan SSR was in the mansion.

[3] The museum's building was originally the residence of the well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev and his family.

[3] Construction alone cost 1.2 million roubles, excluding furniture and equipment, all of which was brought from Russia, France, America, and Germany.

The Oriental Hall features enormous plate glass windows, gilded arches, highly decorated walls, floral pilasters,[3] ceilings, and chandeliers.

[5] During the Soviet period in the mid-20th century, four layers of white paint were applied over the highly decorative floral designs on the walls of the mirrored room, which were seen as "bourgeois remains".

[3] Restoration of rooms, personal belongings, and furniture of the Memorial Museum of Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev has been organized by specialists from Azerbaijan and Italy.

);[9] and the Ethnographic Fund (1925), which seeks to represent cultural artifacts and crafts of Azerbaijani ethnic groups, including copperworking, faience, wood products, fabrics, and carpets.

Originally focused primarily on archaeological findings, there are now restoration specialists from a wider variety of fields who deal with materials including metal, ceramics, wood, textile (carpet and embroidery), painting, and graphics.

To improve their professional skills, laboratory employees refer to new publications about restoration and conservation and apply advanced methods to their work.