The National Museum of Bashkortostan is located on Sovetskaya Street in the center of Ufa and was founded in 1864. Its collection holds 135,000 rare exhibits in the main fund and 50,000 in the auxiliary fund.

Today, the museum is not just one building but a whole association. It includes branches such as the Abzelil Historical and Local Lore Museum, the House-Museum of Sh. A. Khudaiberdin, the Dyurtyul Historical and Local Lore Museum, the Memorial House-Museum of S. T. Aksakov, the Museum of Akhmetzaki Validi, the Museum of Salavat Yulaev, the Museum of the Aksakov Family, and the Temyasov and Tuymazin Historical and Local Lore Museums.

Currently, the National Museum of Bashkortostan is the largest in terms of the number of exhibits presented. They cover the history, everyday life, and spiritual culture of the Bashkirs from ancient times to the present day. The museum includes five departments and 36 exhibition halls. It houses a large collection of coins from Tsarist Russia and a saber that, according to legend, belonged to the national hero Salavat Yulaev. The painting department features works that reflect the life and everyday life of the Bashkirs, including pieces by David Burliuk, who lived in Ufa for several years.

The museum's departments tell about the life, geography, and history of the region, its flora and fauna, as well as the everyday life and culture of the Bashkirs. Of particular interest are the butterfly collection and materials about the Bashkir people. The museum has a hall with aquariums showcasing fish and amphibians from the region. The historical department occupies 12 halls and highlights events in the life of Bashkortostan, while the culture of the republic is represented in the ethnography department.

The history of the museum began in the early 19th century when Ufa became a provincial center and interest in local culture and history emerged. Initially, exhibits were collected by enthusiasts, and then the idea of creating a permanent exhibition arose. This initiative was supported by the Ufa governor, the son of the writer Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov. Initially, the findings were housed in the city gymnasium for boys, and then the museum received its own building, where it remained until 1871.

In the following years, the museum changed its location several times. Today, it is located in a bank building, a beautiful mansion in the style of Russian Art Nouveau, built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1993, several branches were merged, including the Museum of International Friendship and the historical and cultural complex, marking a new milestone in the museum's development. All these institutions were transformed into a single National Museum.