The main building of the Murmansk Regional Local History Museum is located in the city center on Lenin Avenue, next to the Central Trade Union Stadium.

The museum officially opened on October 17, 1926, and since then its exhibitions have been accessible to everyone. Before that, it was a small society of researchers of the Murmansk region, which in the 1920s organized a local history corner in the house of a fisherman and reindeer herder. At that time, the museum's collection was small, about 500 items and 800 books.

Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the collection was actively replenished, but during the war it had to be evacuated, and some exhibits were lost. After the war, the museum returned to Murmansk and a few years later moved to a building on Lenin Avenue.

Today, the museum's funds hold more than 150,000 exhibits, of which only a quarter is displayed in showcases. The museum's library contains over 18,000 books and documents. The museum has two branches: the Museum of the History and Life of the Kola Sámi in the village of Lovozero and the Museum of the Culture and Life of the Pomors in the village of Umba.

The museum hosts educational events, workshops, excursions, presentations, quizzes, meetings with writers, scientists, and researchers, as well as scientific and practical conferences on local history.

The stationary exhibition is divided into several thematic sections. The exhibition "Seas Washing the Kola Peninsula" tells about the history of the development of the northern seas and includes a 20-meter "dry aquarium" with species of commercial fish and other marine inhabitants. The exhibition "Bird Market" introduces birds of the northern latitudes, such as the pomarine jaeger, the guillemot, and the white-tailed eagle. In the section "Tundra Landscape," taxidermied animals inhabiting the tundra, such as reindeer and wolverines, are presented. The exhibition "Landscape of the Northern Sparse Taiga" includes dioramas of a snowy forest and summer taiga depicting a moose and a she-bear with cubs. The section "Minerals of the Kola Peninsula" showcases mineral samples and their uses. The exhibition "Economy and Life of the Sámi in the 18th and Early 20th Century" displays the culture of the indigenous population of the region. The museum also has exhibitions dedicated to the history of the region, the construction of the port in Murmansk, events of 1917, the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the fate of Murmansk during and after the war. Details about all the exhibitions can be found on the museum's official website.