The collection was first mentioned back in 1881 as a special department of the National Arts & Crafts Museum. From the initial collection of specimens intended for the School of Crafts students, it evolved into a comprehensive collection reflecting all textile heritage values of the past centuries.

The collection consists of several large units. First of all, it is the collection of profane clothes and accessories made over the past 200 years. The religious robes & textile equipment collection includes items from the 14th to 20th c., following their development, primarily in terms of motifs, as well as of weaving and embroidery. The most valuable parts of the collection are the 15th and 16th c. chasubles made of golden and multicolour embroidery in Italy. A large part of religious robes from the collection dates back to the periods from Baroque to Historicism, collected from numerous churches and chapels of northern Croatia.

The Museum also has a collection consisting of ten valuable tapestries reflecting features from the Gothic to the Baroque period. Here, we should single out the Gothic style tapestry illustrating the medieval novel "Carcel de amor" by the Spanish writer Diego de San Pedro. We should also mention three tapestries made towards the end of the 17th c. in the workshops of Brussels: The Fall Allegory and the Winter Allegory - parts of The Four Seasons series; and Air and Water, pertaining to The Four Elements series.

Among over three hundred items of the rugs and carpets collection, we should single out the oriental carpet made in northwestern Persia. It is quite large, while its high quality and rich oriental motifs suggest that it was manufactured at a 17th c. Persian shah workshop. Similar carpets may be found at the Keiser Fridrich Museum in Berlin, the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, while the fourth specimen was split in two: One part is kept in Krakow at the Cathedral Treasury, and the other at le Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

The lace collection was started towards the beginning of the 30s. It was the time of Croatian lace-making tradition revival through the re-establishment of special schools in Lepoglava and on the island of Pag. A very valuable group of exhibits originates from these two centres.