The museum was founded in 1965 and located in the historic Old Town. It is the only architecture museum in Poland. It is located in a 15th-century post-Bernardine set of buildings, including the St Bernardine of Sienna Church and a monastic quadrangle with a garden.

The museum's collections illustrate the evolution of architecture in general, although with a specific focus on Poland. The largest collection of stained glass in Poland can be found here. Permanent exhibitions on display are: "Relics of Wroclaw's Mediaeval Architecture"; "Architectural Craft from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century"; "Wroclaw: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"; "The Art of Geometry: A Gallery of Polish Geometrical and Constructivist Art".