[2] The development of Saxony from the time of the first hunters and gatherers to the beginning of industrialization is presented in a three-story exhibition on approximately 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft).

In cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, a museum laboratory was created to illustrate the differences between Neanderthals and people living today.

The second exhibition floor shows farming cultures from the Neolithic period (5500 BC) to the early Middle Ages (800 AD).

The completely preserved ceramic vessels decorated with bark bast and pitch from the Neolithic well at Altscherbitz near Leipzig are remarkable.

The oldest clay figure in Central Europe with clearly male sexual characteristics from Zschernitz is located next to the Venus of Zauschwitz, a female idol from the early Neolithic period.

A mirror installation shows visitors how people dressed during the Iron Age (800–450 BC) and the Roman Imperial Period (0–375 AD).

The approximately 40 metres (130 ft) long rear wall on the third exhibition floor offers an insight into the medieval world with its presentation of 1,200 everyday objects from excavations in the Saxon city centers.

The second floor is dedicated to the history of the Schocken department store in Chemnitz, its importance for Saxony and its connections in the Jewish community.

Department store co-founder Salman Schocken, a passionate collector of Jewish books and manuscripts, is presented on the third floor.

The building was designed and planned at the end of the 1920s by Erich Mendelsohn as a department store for the Schocken brothers' retail group.

The State Insurance Institute, the People's Solidarity and the Chemnitz Consumers' co-operative moved into the department store, which was only slightly damaged.

The extensive conversion was carried out by the consortium of architects Auer Weber Stuttgart and Knerer and Lang Dresden.