Moscow History Museum was founded in 1896 and was called the Museum of the Moscow city economy. The initiator of the museum was the City Duma. The basis of the collection consists of exhibits of the pavilion in Moscow at the Russian art-industrial fair in Nizhny Novgorod, which was held in 1896. Under the museum exposition was given one of the Krestovsky water towers.

Since 1920, the museum began to be called "Moscow municipal museum", and in 1921 was moved to the Sukharev Tower. In the thirties, the main theme of the museum was the 1935-1947 Master Plan for Reconstruction of Moscow's. In 1935 the tower was demolished and the museum moved to the Church of St. John the Theologian under an elm in the New Square.

In 1947, the first time the museum built in accordance with the chronology of events. As such, the exposure lasted until 1970. Its present name, "Museum of the City of Moscow" is a museum since 1986. Since 2006, the museum occupies a famous architectural complex "Provision warehouses" on Zubovsky Boulevard. In 2008, the museum received a new status - the union.

Museum Association "Moscow City Museum" - a complex of museums. It includes: Moscow Museum of Archaeology, Museum "English farmstead", the Museum of Russian harmonic A. Mirek, museum-estate Golitsyn "Vlakhernskoe - Kuzminki," museum of history "Lefortovo", Museum of Christ the Savior Cathedral and the Museum Gilyarovskogo.

Museum funds account for about one million units. The museum - the richest archaeological collections, a large collection of fine materials, including a number of paintings by Vasnetsov "Old Moscow", paintings Makovsky, Aivazovsky, Surikov, Polenova Pasternak, Falk and Nesterov. Because of the small amount of exhibition space and a huge number of museum exhibits constantly arranges changing exhibitions of its rich fund.

The museum holds a huge research work, archaeological excavations, produces research papers on archaeological sites in and around Moscow.