The birth of a museum in Zalau date back in 1926 when the first exhibition was organized, demonstrating the oldness and continuity of the inhabitants in these places. The museum was officially inaugurated in 1951 and it developed throughout the years, owning today more collections and more than 90,000 items exhibited: coins, Roman-Dacian statues, Middle Age, Modern and Contemporary documents and items of Romanian popular art, sculptures and paintings

     The history department consists mainly of archeological collections (20,000 items), showing almost all the stages of a human living in the area (cave painting 100000 years old, Bronze Age, The Dacian and Roman time). Among other sculptures the lapidary contains the statue of the Carracalla Emperor.

     The ethnographic department contains wooden, textile, glass pottery items, folk costumes in the Salaj area, etc

     The arts department contains painting, graphic and sculpture collections belonging to the artists Aurel Ciupe, Romulus Ladea, Petre Abrudan, Nagy Imre.