Spread over three floors, the artefacts housed here stretch from the prehistoric era to the medieval age. The 2nd floor holds the most interesting – and well-curated – exhibits. Here, displays of intricate Roman minor arts, such as decorative combs and oil lamps, and metal curse tablets, are given as much prominence as the more usual show-stopping marble statuary. An exhibit devoted to Croatia's early-medieval Bijelo Brdo culture displays a wealth of grave finds unearthed in the 1920s.
The 3rd floor is home to Bronze and Iron Age finds as well as the museum's Egyptology collection, which includes a delicately beautiful Ptolemaic funeral mask, while the numismatic exhibit on the ground floor holds some 260,000 coins, medals and medallions and is one of the most important in Europe.