 The museum as an institution was founded in 1914 as a part of the commemoration for the 100th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution, but it was not until 1932 that the museum was first opened, in the basement of the Viking Ship Museum in Bygdøy.In 1959 the museum relocated to Etterstad.Today's museum building at Kjelsås in Nordre Aker was designed by architect Rolf Ramm Østgaard and was officially opened in May 1986.