The museum was constructed in 1996 to a design by the architects Zamp Kelp, Julius Krauss and Arno Brandlhuber[1] and draws about 170,000 visitors per year.

The museum also includes an archaeological park on the original discovery site, a Stone Age workshop, as well as an art trail named "human traces".

The design submitted by Professor Günter Zamp Kelp, Julius Krauss and Arno Brandlhuber was chosen as it represented the importance of the location.

Based on the main subject "Evolution of Humankind", the thematic areas spread over five sections exhibit sequentially the "Life and Survival", "Tools and Knowledge", "Myth and Religion", Environment and Nourishment" and "Communication and Society".

This cast collection, prepared on the basis of finds from various excavated sites in the world, was facilitated by the donations given by Alfred Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.

(Pleistocene People and Places) which provides an interactive database on all anthropological and archaeological data connected with the Neanderthals in the form of "3D–images of CT-Scans and surface scans, as well as high-resolution photographs of human fossils and artifacts”.

[10] The following special exhibition at the Neanderthal Museum featured wolves and was created by the Görlitz branch of the Naturmuseum Senckenberg;[11] it was opened on 18 November 2012 and was on display until 17 March 2013.

[15] The museum's work in archaeological and palaeo-anthropological research is succinctly displayed through the audio visuals screened with the aid of several types of multimedia equipment.

In this regard the display areas in the garden such as the Discovery Site, the “Human Traces” art trail and the Ice Age Game Reserve are very topical for children in particular.