The Museum of Croatian Archeological Monuments was established 24 August, 1893 in Knin under the name of The First Museum of Croatian Monuments, for the purpose of collecting medieval Croatian archeological heritage items.

Owing to the efforts of Lujo Marun, a Franciscan, a number of monuments were already collected by that time, formerly kept at St. Anthony's friary in Knin. A new building was erected for the needs of the Museum, on the site of the friary's dilapidated eastern wing.

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Since its items became too many, the Museum was in 1912 moved to the neighbouring "Fontana" house, and, in 1933, to a specially adapted house by the Knin fortress.

Towards the beginning of WWII, since the Knin fortress was being used for military purposes, the then Museum's director Stjepan Gunjaca secretly moved the items to Sinj, where they remained until 1946. This move soon proved justified, since the building was demolished in an air strike in 1943.

In 1946, the construction of a new building was started for the needs of the Museum by the fortress in Klis, but the project was later dropped because the site was too isolated. The monuments were instead moved to the Mestrovic Gallery in Split.

In 1955, the Museum was moved to the former cement plant cottages on Split's east coast, where the construction of a new Museum building was envisaged. Here, the permanent collection was reopened for public in 1958, but only until the end of 1960, when this project was dropped as well.

Finally, in 1968, decision was made to erect the Museum building on its present location at Meje, Split. The building was constructed after a design by architect M. Kauzlaric. It was officially opened on 5 December, 1976, while the permanent exhibition was reopened on 25 July, 1978.