The Museum was inaugurated on 27 September 1997 to house the finds conserved in the warehouses of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Florence, coming from excavations of the 2ndhalf of the 19th and 20th centuries. To this were added a small group of finds of the Antiquarium Comunale, which had been exhibited in the Town Hall until 1995, and the private Bologni collection, that was donated to the museum. Material of isolated and fortuitous discoveries had converged in Florence
over decades.