The history of the Museum of Aquitaine in Bordeaux takes the count in the second half of the eighteenth century – from the moment the Academy of Bordeaux was founded the Museum of stone sculpture, which housed the remains of the Roman heritage. These artifacts were found during excavation works in urban areas that are periodically conducted in the period from the XVI to the XVIII century.

In 1963, the institution was renamed into the Museum of history, archeology and Ethnography, and also became known as "the Museum of Aquitaine". In 1987, the Museum moved into the former building of the faculty of arts and science, which was built in the late XIX century on the site of the monastery, known as the burial place of the writer and philosopher Michel de Montaigne. Aquitaine Museum is located close to Cathedral of St. Andrew.

In 2009, the Museum opened new halls devoted to such a complicated topic in the history of colonial France as slavery and human trafficking. Bordeaux was the second (after the Nantes port in Europe arrived black slaves. Just in Bordeaux was delivered about 130 thousand slaves. The Museum displays documents and other artifacts that tell about the conditions of life and work of slaves, punishment for the riots and escapes.

Currently, the area of the Museum is more than 5000 square meters, and the collection of exhibits has about 70 thousand units. All of these items, documents, works of art represent the history of the historical region of Aquitaine and its main city of Bordeaux. The earliest artifacts in this collection date back to the prehistoric era, many of the exhibits are the testimonies of different times – Roman, early Christian, Medieval. Also in the Museum you can see exhibitions devoted to the Maritime history of Bordeaux, the art of the peoples of Africa and Oceania.