There were attempts to establish a technical museum since the 19th century. In this period Brno became a significant industrial centre renowned for textiles, engineering, electrical and food production. Technical collections were exhibited in Františkovo muzeum which is today’s Moravské zemské muzeum (The Moravian Museum) since its establishment in 1817. Františkovo muzeum was concerned mainly with natural history and socio-scientific collections. Coverage of technology was gradually excluded. Due to this fact, there were attempts to construct a technical museum in the 1870s. The endeavour led to the foundation of Moravské průmyslové muzeum (Moravian Industrial Museum) - today’s Moravská galerie (Moravian gallery) in 1873. An individual technical department was established in 1895. It was concerned with permanent exhibition of tools, machinery, new constructions and counseling for small enterprises. Later the museum began orientation around art and craft which probably led to the downfall of this department. The rapid development of industry and trade along with the newly incepted Chamber of Commerce required educated people, which led to the establishment of secondary vocation schools and universities. Graduates from these schools were pressing for the foundation of a technical museum. The initiative came to a head in 1924 when the Czechoslovak engineering association established a preliminary board for the establishment of a technical museum in Moravia. Collections of the newly established museum were supposed to be exhibited in Uměleckoprůmyslové muzeum (Arts and Crafts Museum) and partly in Bauerova rampa in Pisárky. In the following years the concept of Technologické muzeum pro Moravu a Slezsko (Moravian and Silesian Technologic Museum) was elaborated. It leaned towards the idea of a detached technical museum which did not meet with a welcoming response from the technical Museum in Prague. After a number of discussions, the needs of the engineering association were not met despite the promising program development. 

Archiv pro dějiny průmyslu , obchodu a technické práce (The Archive of Industrial History) is considered to be the direct foregoer of TMB. It was established in 1936 but it didn’t start operating until the post- war period. It was opened in 1948 due to the support of Zemský národní výbor (The People’s Committee) and Obchodní a živnostenská komora (The Chamber of Commerce) in Brno. The archive was supposed to collect and process all the materials concerned with Moravian industrial history. It was settled in the premises of Uměleckoprůmyslové muzeum.  

In 1950 the Archive asked for the donation of the partly devastated St. Voršila’s castle on the corner of Orlí and Josefská streets in Brno. The castle is a baroque style edifice built in the 17th century. In 1951 the Archive was transferred to state ownership and thus became an embranchment of Národní technické muzeum (The National Technical Museum) in Prague. Yet another important change came at the end of 1952. The embranchment turned into the Documentary and Educational Department and started to create its own collection. Another important turning point in the history of TMB came in 1956 when it obtained its own building. The State sold St. Voršila’s castle to Náboženská matice (Devotional array) to be used for museum purposes.

Multiple annual attempts to document technical development in Moravia were responded to on January 1st 1961 when the embranchment of the National Technical Museum separated and became the Technical Museum in Brno. From this year onward it began to operate as an individual institution engaged in the documentation of technology and industrial production development which comprises approximately 300 branches, starting with crafts and ending with modern computing technology. The museum also documents significant personalities regarding technology (e.g. V. Kaplan, F. Píšek, V. List etc.). There are also documents concerning automobile production in Moravia deposited in the museum. Visitors will have the opportunity to see authentic cars made in Zbrojovka Brno, Wikov Prostějov, Tatra Kopřivnice etc. You can also view the documents dealing with production of steam and water turbines made in První brněnská strojírna (The first machine-works, Brno). There is also a collection of photographical instruments, radios, office aids, household- and crafts- technology belonging to the Moravian provenance. Historic production plants in their original setting are parts of the TMB technical monuments as well. Currently, there are six of them administered by TMB, namely Stará huť in Josefov with the “Ferrous- metallurgy” exposition, a blacksmiths in Těšany , a windmill in Kuželov with a miller’s trade exposition, a watermill in Slup with a miller’s techniques exposition (the only national historic landmark administered by TMB), the area of the Czechoslovak fortification in Šatov and Šlakhamr in Hamry nad Sázavou which is to be opened soon.

The operation of TMB has always included organizing exhibitions and expositions as well. Expositions have been held since 1969 when the first one, called “Water power- supply” came into being. It was followed by many others, such as “Steam power- supply”, “Computational technology”, “Iron-founding”, “Microscopy” etc. there have been many exhibitions organized by TMB as well, for instance “Czechoslovak science and Technology leaks out”, “Saved past”, “Music machines”, “60 years of Czechoslovak aircraft industry”, “Minerva parlor- from a needle to the sewing-machine”, “Kryštof Kolumbus”, “Flaming skies” etc. Several touring exhibitions were prepared by the workers of TMB as well. These were presented at other museums in various towns and countries, especially at the time when TMB lost its showplaces. They include “Cast as a guide throughout the life”, “Camera captures the world”, “History of cutlery”, “Typewriters” etc.

One of the most important parts of TMB is the library. It is concerned with technical and crafts history and development and engages in incorporation of these fields into society. There are economic and statistical documents deposited in the library which form an important source of technical and industrial history knowledge from the 19th century. The library also stores specific documentation such as negatives, maps, films, manuscripts etc. There are more than 60,000 fascicles in the library, found together.

There is a guild of technical museum friends where people interested in various museum branches associate and work together. Members of this group include radio-amateurs, plastic-modellers, people interested in public transport and automobile technology.

Restitution laws especially No. 382/1991 Sb. about reversion of patrimonies brought a radical change to the Technical Museum. It lost the main building (Former St. Voršila’s castle on the corner of Orlí and Josefská streets in Brno). There was however, the continued possibility to rent the castle until 2001. Despite this fact, a decision to leave the castle was made in years 1995–1996 due to its static malfunction. As a result, the majority of expositions, exhibitions, club-rooms, a lecture hall and workrooms were destroyed or removed to other temporary rented premises. Two depositaries in Rousínov, and all the houses in Josefská and Novobranská streets formerly belonging to the museum were reversed for the Church as well. As a result of the restitution TMB lost 20.796 m2 of actual surface, area, 10.179 m2 of which were indoor premises. Thus Brno lost a culturally educational institution that supported the citizens of Brno and its surrounding population. In addition, the museum became aware of the restitution just after the law was passed in 1991, without any warning from The Ministry of Culture, and therefore was not prepared for the consequences. This fact bears evidence of sheer lack of interest for maintaining the Technical Museum in Brno. The vacated premises’ used by TMB were later used as a shopping centre. At that time the static malfunction probably was not considered a substantial problem.

The museum remained, only thanks to the efforts and work of our employees and management who refused to accept the destruction of the museum and fought for its preservation. This endeavour paid off and the history of TMB could continue. The program of salvation and protection that was designed by the museum management in 1996-1997 was divided into three phases. Within the first and second phases, reconstruction and rebuilding of the newly gained edifice in Královo Pole was performed. New grounds enabling smooth removal of the museum were obtained as well. In the third phase the museum collections were secured for all intents and purposes, namely deposition, conservation and protection from various kinds of harmful substances. One more task arose and this was probably the most important- construction of new expositions within an area of 5.500 m2. At present, the visitors are welcome to visit eleven expositions of the museum within an area of 2600m2.