In 1895, supported especially by the writers J. Zeyer, F. Herites and O. Mokrý, there was organized the ethnographic exhibition collecting the first items of the future museum collection.

Its installation was realized 10 years later in the Town Hall. The first custodian of the new museum was a teacher Haštal Mostecký, who took the main credit for development of the museum between two wars. Since 1959 the museum has used the premises of the former synagogue.