The idea to create a museum originated in 1897, but was founded on December 21, 1903 as the Museum of Saris County. The first director became dr. A. Vass, director of the local grammar school. The collection of material for the museum began in 1903, mainly thanks to K. Divald, V. Miškovsky, A. Vass and G. Žebrácký. Almost 3,000 pieces of museum valuables were collected from the territory of the entire Šariš County in a short time. The first historical exhibition, (focusing on the history of Šariš), was opened on June 23, 1907 in the town hall building. The exhibited material was donated or deposited from various, especially church institutions and organizations. The two world wars lasted without much change. Re-installations of the exhibition took place in 1954, 1967 and 1991. Since its foundation, the Šariš Museum has been constantly struggling with financial and personnel problems. In the years 1907-1950, there was only a minimal increase in collections and no research was carried out. The years 1914-1918 were marked by an effort to move its most important exhibits to a museum in Budapest. At the end of the Second World War, the retreating German army was again interested in the collections. Thanks mainly to G. Žebrácký, the objects remained in their original place. After 1945, the museum began to profile itself as patriotic, focused on documenting the development of nature and society from prehistory to the present and in the districts of Bardejov, Giraltovce, Stropkov and Svidník. Since 1950, it has focused on the documentation of the Bardejov city reserve.
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