The museum was founded in 1929 by the Silesjan Sejm, while the region was recovering from the Silesian Uprosing. In the interbellum the Silesian Museum was one of the biggest museums in Poland. The Nazis however brought the collection to Bytom and tore the building down in 1940. In 1984 the museum was reinstated in a former hotel building.
Mainly ethnological and archeological artefacts from the surrounding area, related to the History of Silesia. Furthermore some 233 works of Polish art, with as remarkable examples portraits by Stanisław Wyspiański and some paintings by Olga Boznańska Other artists on display from the original collection, returned from Bytom, are for example Józef Mehoffer, Piotr Michałowski, Stanisław Witkiewicz. Furthermore there are historical objects and artefacts from the region, such as a flask vessel.