Under German influence, the second half of the 19th century brings to Transylvania the idea of establishing museums through cultural societies. The first initiatives regarding the establishment of a society as such are found in Zalau since 1878, but only after December 30th 1880 the meeting regarding the formation of the Museum Association of Salaj County takes place. On this occasion, layer Szikszai Lajos makes public his intention of donating his personal collection, structured in five domains (documents, coins, ceramics, stone and bronze monuments, paleontological exhibits), to the future museum of the town situated at the foot of Mount Meses. The collection was exposed in a few rooms in the Prefecture (the current headquarter of Zalau City Hall), but most of it is lost during the events from autumn 1918.

In 1923, Nicolae Cristea, the president of the ASTRA National Museum Complex, manages to reunite the remaining of Szikszai's collection with a school museum collection, thus organizing a museum core with approximately 100 objects with historic valence. Leading the ASTRA's County Office, Leontin Ghergariu obtains a building for the ASTRA Cultural House, where spaces are arranged for a future museum. The remaining of Szikszai's collection, among other artifacts discovered at Porolissum, as a result of resuming the scientific research from this important archeological site under the management of professor Constantin Daicoviciu, are exposed there. Due to the unfortunate events from autumn 1940, an important part of the exposed objects are lost.

The Museum from Zalau was founded in May 15th 1951 through the decision no. 3438. In 1951, Vasile Lucăcel becomes the director of the new founded museum institution and begins to collect items and organizes the basic exposition. On August 1st 1952, the opening of the first basic exposition takes place under the coordination of a curator (director) and a supervisor in two of the four allocated spaces, benefiting of an exposure area of approximately 72 m².

As a result of collection's increase through donations (Leontin Ghergariu, Ana Teleki), acquisitions (Silviu Papiriu Pop, Szekely Bella), archeological research in the main sites from the county, but also through the allocation of a new expositional area (the current location), three significant reorganizations of the basic exposition take place in 1956, 1961, and 1971.

A new organization of the basic exposition takes place in 1986 when in the current building remain only historical and ethnographical items. The collection of contemporary art, enriched with the donation of the master Ioan Sima, is given a new space situated on the Gheorghe Doja Street, no. 6, know as The "Ioan Sima" Arts Gallery. A new wing is added to the existing building in order to shelter the Romanian contemporary art. The gallery was open to the public in July 9th 1981. Today, it functions under the name "I. Sima" Art Museum.

Since 1990 until now, because of the transition and financial crisis, a capital reorganization of the basic exposition took place just in 2010, when the immobile of the historical section "Vasile Lucăcel" from Unirii Street, no. 9, entered in an important rehabilitation process. Thus, the basic exposition was reorganized according to the new demands of the public. The "Ioan Sima" Arts Gallery building was also restored between 2007 and 2009.

At present, the patrimony of the Zalau County Museum of History and Art has 221,208 patrimonial goods, organized in archeology, history, ethnography, art and entomology collections.

Website: http://muzeuzalau.ro/
Telephone: 0260 61 22 23