In 1908, the municipal authorities of Bolesławiec decided to establish a Municipal Museum in a building created by combining a residential house with a tower of the city fortifications system. The construction work was directed by P. Gansel, a member of the well-known throughout the region Gansel family, after the design of the municipal architect E. Balzer. In 1911, the Museum was opened to the public. A significant part of the funds for its activities was allocated by the Bolesławiec-born collector Max Hoehne. As a result, the Museum, since the opening, could boast of an impressive collection. It comprised ethnographic collection, items related to the past of the city and Bolesławiec region, including local pottery. The Museum began its post-war activity in 1953, building a collection of Bolesławiec stoneware from scratch. Currently, the Museum of Ceramics has about 6,000 exhibits – from the oldest 13th-century vessel through typical brown-glazed items, stamp-decorated ceramics, utensils created at the Vocational School of Ceramics in Bolesławiec to contemporary products.

In the Museum’s backyard garden, there is a lapidarium containing sculptures, epitaph plaques and fragments of architectonic details from the Bolesławiec district, partly representing the pre-war collection.