The museum is in the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Gardens, Banarasi Bagh, Lucknow.

The museum began in 1863 with a collection of artifacts that were housed in the building of the Choti Chattar Manzil in Qaisar Bagh by the then commissioner of Lucknow, Colonel Abbott.

The museum was shifted to a larger space in the erstwhile coronation hall of the Nawabs of Awadh, Lal Baradari in June, 1884.

[1] A special Archeological section for the museum was established in 1909 in the premises of the old Canning College in Qaiser Bagh.

Fuhrer's expertise and interest in the field of archeology was reflected in his first contribution to the collection of the museum, excavation at Kankali Mound at Mathura in three consecutive periods— 1888–89, 1889–90 and 1890–91.

It consists of antiquities from the prehistoric period, the Bronze Age, plaster casts of famous figurines from the Indus Valley, clay seals, inscriptions, pottery and other miscellaneous objects including bricks and weights.

This collection is divided into two galleries, with the first containing early, medieval and late Stone Age implements from the Uttar Pradesh and Sindh area.

Dr. N.P Joshi[6] highlights the Brahmanical sculptures in the museum in a two volume work and their importance in studying iconographic representations.

The museum guide[2] mentions a reserve collection of stone and terracotta images, plaster casts, copper plates and royal inscriptions.

The reserve collection houses some important and notable items including the Bhitri seal, Hadaha inscription, as well as more than four hundred metal sculptures with Jain, Buddhist and Hindu affiliations.

The manuscript collection of the museum includes notable objects such as the 1593 Padmavat written by Jayasi and an Akbari period Harivamsa.

The gallery is a precipitate of a temporary exhibition from 1985,[1][9] and houses cultural objects from the area produced during the rule of Nawab Asif-ud-Daula and his successors.

The Conservation Cell of the museum houses facilities of chemical treatment and restoration of stone, ceramic, terracotta, metal, wood, coins and ivory objects, The photographic library contains black and white and colour prints documenting objects in the museum.