The Angermuseum, Erfurt's first municipal museum, was officially opened on 27 June 1886. It is housed in a building that used to house Erfurt's public weighing scales, where travelling mechants would bring their wares to be weighed for payment of the city's customs duties. The museum faces Anger square; Anger meaning a town common. Originally, only the gallery on the first floor was used for the museum.
The building was constructed from 1706–1711. It was designed by the architect Johann Maximilian von Welsch. It is a Franconian–influenced baroque building with St. Martin, the city's patron saint, in its gable triangle.