The Museum was opened in 1942 in the building "the City of Minareli". One of the main collections of the Museum are works acquired or donated by the citizens and was found in the excavations. Later, in 1967, the Erzurum Museum were asked to move to the new building. In 1994 the Museum was opened in madrasas "Yakutia". Here the main event were ethnographic works and findings of the Turkic-Islamic period. Soon the Museum was renamed and divided into the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Turkish-Islamic works.

In the excavations of ancient settlements archaeological Museum became the owner of valuable works and today has a rich collection of exhibits.

In the hall of ancient settlements are works acquired by the Museum, during excavations on the territory of this region. Among them the special place is occupied by the artifacts found during excavations in Karate (1942-1944), Polare (1960) and SOS (1994-1998). It also exhibited objects and artworks that relate to the history of human civilization, starting from the fourth century BC and until Seljuk times. They are represented by figurines, arrowheads, sacred fire, stone tools and vessels of burnt clay.

The next room is called the hall of Rome, Hellenistic time and the Caucasus. In this room are exhibited the works acquired by the Museum during the excavation in Ikiztepe. They belong to the Byzantine and Roman time, including rings, tiaras, gold items, earrings, objects of baked clay, glass bottle for tears, sarcophagi, as well as an exhibition of works and objects of art belonging to the second Millennium BC, which depict the culture of Eastern Anatolia, Western Wang, the people of the coast of the Iranian city of urmie lake, located in the Southeast and Georgia, located in the North-East.

From the heritage of Urartu in the Museum are exhibited: metal utensils, pieces of baked clay, decorative purposes, aesthetic purposes, print, oath decals, military equipment and other items.

In the hall of the coins are the coins belonging to the time of Byzantium and Rome. In the hall of the natural history plates are the inscriptions, epitaphs Urartu, acquired by the Museum. Attention attracts the works of Mamuda, who lived five hundred thousand years ago.