Chilean National Museum of History is a public institution and is under the control of the Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums. Its mission is to provide public access to the country's history through the collection, preservation, study and dissemination of the heritage of Chile.

In 1873, at the initiative of Mayor Benjamin Vicuña Makenna Santiago it organized a temporary exhibition of ancient artifacts Exposición del Coloniaje, which was housed in a former residence of the governor of Chile, now in this building is the Central Post Office, headquarters of the Mail de Chile. In 1874, based on the idea of ​​creating a permanent historical museum, this exhibition with a few additions to the castle was moved to the area of ​​the Cerro Santa Lucía de Santiago.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, the director of the National Library Luis Montt Montt, offered to organize the new historical exhibition. A new exhibition with a large collection of artefacts has opened in the mansion, located on the street Mondzhitas, between San Antonio and Mac-Iver, and created a furor. Then the exhibition organizers decided to appeal to the government to create a National Historical Museum of Chile. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Figueroa Joaquin Larrain in May 1911 a petition for the opening of the museum was signed by President of the Republic Don Ramón Barros Luco.

Since 1982, the museum is housed in the Palacio de la Real in the north of the Plaza de Armas, which was built by Juan Jose de Goyakoaleya Zanyartu during the 1804-1808 period. Previously, the building was the headquarters of the Royal Court, where the First National Congress in 1811, and from 1812 to 1814 the seat of government under the leadership of the Patriotic Movement of la Patria Vieja. During the Spanish Reconquista was building again belong to the royal court. In 1818, the Palace of the Royal Court was officially named the seat of government of Bernardo O'Higgins and became known as the Palace of Independence. This building housed the ministries and other state institutions and agencies. To keep the building in 1969 it was declared a national monument of Chile and transferred to the National Historical Museum of Chile, as well as renovated in 1978-1982.

Currently, the museum's collection is grouped as follows: a collection of decorative arts and sculpture collection of folk arts and crafts, a collection of paintings and prints, the collection of textiles and costumes, a collection of archeology and ethnography, the collection of tools and equipment, furniture collection, a collection of coins and medals, collection books and documents, a collection of weapons, a collection of historic photographs. These collections are of different origins - some have been received from other museums, exhibitions and private collections, others were donated by different people since the beginning of the XIX century to the present.