The State Autonomous Cultural Institution of the Republic of Buryatia "National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia" was established in 2011 by merging three museums: the Museum of History named after M. N. Khangalov, the Art Museum named after Ts. S. Sampilov, and the Museum of Nature of Buryatia. In 2012, the Novoselenginsk Museum of Decembrists joined this union. Currently, the design of a building for the new museum is underway. The museum's main collection consists of 75,193 items.

The Museum of History of Buryatia was founded on October 10, 1923, by the decision of the Buryat Revolutionary Committee. In 1958, it was named after the famous Buryat ethnographer Matvey Nikolaevich Khangalov. Its collections preserve unique cultural artifacts of the peoples of Buryatia and Central Asia, as well as historical and ethnographic materials from Siberian clans and tribes. The museum's collection includes tangible and documentary artifacts reflecting the history and culture of the peoples of the Baikal region.

The Art Museum named after Ts. S. Sampilov was established in 1943 by a joint resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR and the bureau of the Buryat Regional Committee of the VKP(b). Its collections feature works by Buryat artists. In 1966, the museum was named after Ts. S. Sampilov, the founder of professional art in Buryatia and a distinguished figure in the arts.

The Museum of Nature of Buryatia opened on July 12, 1983, based on the department of the local history museum named after M. N. Khangalov. It is located in the federally significant building "House of Public Assembly." The museum's modern collections include paleontological, zoological, geological, and botanical collections demonstrating the biodiversity of Buryatia's nature. The museum's exhibition is organized according to a landscape principle and is dedicated to the theme "Nature and Man," with an emphasis on the unique ecosystem of Lake Baikal.

The Novoselenginsk Museum of Decembrists, the first museum dedicated to the Decembrists of Transbaikalia, was opened on December 24, 1975, for the 150th anniversary of the Decembrist uprising on Senate Square. It is located in the house of the first guild merchant and honorary citizen of Selenginsk D. D. Starcev, who was a friend of the Decembrists, the Bestuzhev brothers and K. P. Torson. The building is designed in the style of noble estates of the 1840s.