On May 3, 1960, the Vorkuta Local History Museum was opened. Its exhibition is dedicated to the history of the region, the development of the coal industry, civil and industrial construction, as well as science, everyday life, and culture. The section dedicated to nature was arranged in 1963 and 1964. A year later, a picture gallery was added to the museum.

The museum's collections include a collection of theatrical posters and programs from the Vorkuta Musical and Dramatic Theater, items of camp life, chess made from bread crust, a compilation of the newspaper "Zapoarye Kochegarka," and handmade greeting cards. The collection consists of over 700 items. Ethnographic exhibits are also presented, such as collections of Nenets bags and dolls. The museum has interesting exhibits of fossil fauna and flora, including the skull of a musk ox, part of a cave bear skull, and mammoth bones. The archaeological collection contains about 14,000 items.

In July 2008, the Vorkuta Interdistrict Local History Museum became a legal entity and was renamed the municipal cultural institution "Vorkuta Museum and Exhibition Center," and since January 1, 2012, it has been a municipal budgetary cultural institution.

The museum's art collection includes over 500 items, among which are works by Vorkuta authors (Wunder Y. Y., Smirnov V. I., Pylaev I. V.) and artists from the republic (Yermolin R. N., Polyakov V. V., Zhilin N. I., Mamchenko V. N.). Unique ethnographic collections include a Nenets sacrificial site from Vaygach Island and household items of the Komi and Nenets. Interesting objects of fossil flora and fauna are also presented, including part of a cave bear skull, the skull of a musk ox, and bones of a mammoth and a whale.