It was established in 1979, mainly by the efforts of professor Maire Gullichsen (1907- 1990), co-founder of the furniture company Artek.

The building is an old weigh house that was designed by architect C. J. von Heideken (1832–1888).

It was originally built in 1860 and renovated for museum use in 1979–1981 by the design of architect Kristian Gullichsen.

The main focus of the Pori Municipal Collection is on 20th-century art together with 19th-century Finnish artists as Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931) and Victor Westerholm (1860–1919).

The collections have works by many notable international artists, including names like José Bedia Valdés, Ian McKeever, Leonhard Lapin, Yan Pei Ming, Georges Rousse, Yoko Ono and Dennis Oppenheim.