The museum is located on the east side of the Culture Center Hall situated in the Cumhuriyet Square of the city center, Akdeniz District of Mersin Province. Construction of the building, which formerly served as the Public House, dates back to 1944 - 1945. The Museum was initially established in the Culture Center Hall in 1978, opened for visitors in 1991, and later re-opened in 2001 following renewal works. The Museum has three main exhibition halls. In the first hall where stone works are displayed, marble busts of Roman Period, statues, various types of sarcophagi and other works found in rescue excavations are presented to the visitors. Works found in excavations, tools made of stone and obsidian, clay pottery, weaving weights, loom weights, hatchets, chisels, a glass scarabaeus, and a glass lamp from the Islamic Period are displayed on Yumuktepe showcase established in the second hall. Apart from these, earthenware, clay pottery, glass works and chronologically organized coins from the Ancient Bronze Age, Urartu, Hellenistic Period, Roman and Byzantine Periods are exhibited in the same hall. Amphorae, which occupied an important place in the naval trade of antiquity, are also displayed in the same hall. Ethnographic pieces are exhibited in the third hall, which is also located on the second floor. These pieces include silver ornaments, local clothes, traditional napkins, wooden and metal household goods, samples of weaving and different types of weapons. The museum is closed on the first days of religious holidays until noon; apart from that, it is open for visitors all week, free of charge.