Museum of history of Moscow was founded in 1896 and was called the Museum of the Moscow city economy. The initiator of creation of the Museum was the city Council. The basis of the collection amounted to the exhibits of the pavilion of Moscow in all-Russian art and industrial exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, held in 1896. Under Museum was given one of Krestovsky water towers.

Since 1920, the Museum was renamed "the Moscow municipal Museum", and in 1921 was transferred to the Sukharev tower. In the thirties, the main theme of the exposition of the Museum was the General Plan of reconstruction of Moscow 1935-1947. In 1935, the tower was demolished, and the Museum moved to the Church of St. John the Evangelist under the elm on the New square.

In 1947 the first exposition of the Museum was built in accordance with the chronology of events. As such, the exhibition lasted until 1970. Its present name "the Museum of city history of Moscow" Museum bears since 1986. Since 2006, the Museum is the famous architectural complex "Provision warehouses" on Zubovsky Boulevard. In 2008, the Museum received a new status – the Union.

The Museum Association "Moscow city Museum" is a complex of museums. It includes: the Museum of archaeology of Moscow, the old English court", the Museum of Russian harmonic of A. Mirek, Museum-estate of the Golitsyn "Blachernae – Kuzminki", "Lefortovo", Museum of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Museum Gilyarovskogo.

The Museum has around a million units. In the collection of the Museum is a rich archaeological collection, a large collection of fine materials, including a number of paintings by Vasnetsov "Old Moscow", Makovsky paintings, Aivazovsky, Surikov, Polenov, Pasternak, Falk and Nesterov. From the small number of exhibition spaces and a huge number of exhibits, the Museum is constantly arranges temporary exhibitions from its rich assets.

The Museum holds a huge research work, archaeological site, publishes scientific papers concerning archaeological monuments of Moscow and Moscow region.