The museum has an extensive collection of archaeological artefacts, old coins and banknotes (in the numismatics department on the ground floor) and displays related to the applied arts.

It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the master builder Wilhelm Treo in collaboration with Jan Vladimír Hráský between 1883 and 1885.

The interior was designed by Hráský, with the ceiling of the main hall decorated with medaillons by the painters Janez and Jurij Šubic.

Janez Šubic drew the main allegorical painting of Carniola as the protector of arts and sciences, whereas Jurij Šubic drew four portraits of famous Carniolans: Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, Valentin Vodnik, Sigmund Herberstein and Sigmund Zois.

[3] A bronze monument to the Carniolan polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, designed by the sculptor Alojz Gangl, was placed in front of the museum in 1903.