Founded in 1866, it operates as a government agency and is tasked with preserving Swedish historical items as well as making knowledge about history available to the public.

The foundation for what was to become the Swedish History Museum and the Nationalmuseum, was King Gustav Vasa's 16th century art collection at Gripsholm Castle.

During the later part of the 18th century, art and antiquities were bought by ambassadors and members of the royal family and collected at Stockholm Palace.

[4] Swedish archaeologist Stig Welinder argues that the History Museum was in fact founded with its establishment in the Ridderstolpe House in 1847.

[5] The present-day museum was founded in 1866 by Bror Emil Hildebrand, who had been director of its predecessor both at Stockholm Palace and Ridderstolpe House.

The debate about housing for the History Museum continued for decades until Sigurd Curman became Custodian of Ancient Monuments (riksantikvarie) and head of the Swedish National Heritage Board on 3 July 1923.

[8] The main objective for a new and sufficiently large building for the museum was to bring order to the collections, commonly called "The Chaos" while the unpublished research papers were referred to as "the corf".

[3] In 1929, the Swedish government suggested that the former military barracks and stables at Storgatan in the city block known as the Krubban ("the crib"), could be allocated to the museum.

[9] No winner was declared, instead it was elements from the runner-up suggestion, made by architects Bengt Romare and George Scherman with engineer Gösta Nilsson, that became the starting point for the remodeling of the area.

[10] The main building, designed by Romare and Scherman 1935–1940, reflects an ambivalence between the predominant modern style of the era and the historical context given not only by the context requirements, but also the 19th century barracks and stables south of the museum designed by Fredrik Blom and built in stages in 1805–1818, starting one year after the land had been appropriated by the government.

The façade is austere and decorated with sculptures made by Bror Marklund (added in 1959) and reliefs by artist Robert Nilsson.

A noted deviation from the historical theme, is the depiction of a standard, 1950s pilsner bottle on the far right side of the right-hand door.

Designed by architect Leif Blomberg, it resembles a mystic cult place with a representation of Mímir's Well in the middle of the exhibition room.

[15] When Curman originally designed how the collections were to be displayed, he borrowed ideas from contemporary exhibitions, industrial fairs and storefronts.

The idea was to entice and educate visitors, something that was met with skepticism from scholars who regarded the museum mainly as a scientific institution.

[18] The Vikings collection comprise objects from around 800–1050, including weapons, the Söderala vane, the Mästermyr chest, archaeological finds from the Viking Age trading centre, Birka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Björkö, religious items from the era, foreign objects brought home from travels and raids in other parts of the world as well as thousands of finds related to the everyday life during that period.

[20] The room also contains Viking silver jewelry, bejeweled reliquaries from the Middle Ages, coins, ceremonial swords and spoils of war.

The large number of preserved objects made from precious metals, is due to a law that was issued in the 17th century, stating that all such finds that were 100 years or older and with no owner, were to be redeemed by the government and sent to the History museum.