The museum is situated on the ground floor of the Palace of Culture and is a continuation of the Museum of Antiquities, established by Orest Tafrali, in 1916, under the University of Jassy. The department of ancient history has two subsidiaries: the museum at Cucuteni and the Dacian fortress of Cotnari. Other subsidiaries of the History Museum include: the Museum of the Union, Mihail Kogălniceanu House and the Hârlău Museum of History. The museum presents history and archaeology exhibits from the Palaeolithic age: tools, flint weapons, animal bones from Valea Lupului, Mitoc, Ripiceni, Ceahlău; from the Neolithic: pottery, tools, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines (...the Criş, Stoicani-Aldeni, Cucuteni cultures); the Bronze Age: pottery, tools (Monteoru, Costişa, Noua); the Iron Age: pottery, bronze bracelets and chains from the cemetery of Stoicani, a bronze knife from Tămăoani, a Scythian iron dagger from the tomb of Comarna, an Attic Greek vase (Frumuşiţa), pottery, (Stânceşti, Cotnari, Băiceni), pieces of harness (Truşeşti); Geto-Dacian civilization: tools, pottery, ornaments, clay statuettes (Poiana, Piatra Neamţ); pottery from settlements like Scheia - Văleni and incineration cemeteries like Vârtişcoi - Poieneşti; Roman altars and tegulae from Barboşi, tomb inscriptions (Noviodunum), Greek, Hellenistic and Roman clay, bronze or glass finds from Dobrudja; tools, glass vessels, amphorae and ornaments (the Sântana de Mureş culture) from the Middle Ages, tools, weapons, ornaments collection of ancient, mediaeval and modern coins, mediaeval and modern documents. The exhibition of contemporary history (until World War II) is presented in a new display and was inaugurated in 1997. New topics include the history of the Orthodox Church and the history of Romanian Royalty.
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