The museum is located in the heart of the capital and occupies a large area, as it displays many ancient cultures and traditions, and is the oldest museum in Algeria and Africa. This museum covers the history of art in Algeria for 2,500 years. It was opened in 1897, and the collection it contains has been described as "the finest collection of this kind in Algeria". The museum contains two sections, a section of classical antiquity dating back to 1835, and includes statues, mosaics and bronzes discovered in archaeological sites in Algeria, part of the art of the Muslim West (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Spain) and the Middle East, which was added to the museum in 1846, It consisted mainly of manuscripts, a collection of coins, carpets, embroidery, ceramics, and woodwork.