The Archaeological Museum of Kos was founded during the period of the Italian occupation and in particular since 1936, when the General Director of the Dodecanese was Mario Lago. The building was erected to house the finds from the Italian and German excavations in the countryside and the city of Kos.Particularly after a devastating earthquake that devastated the city in 1933, it was possible for extensive excavation research, but also for a new settlement of the town’s urban system with large archaeological sites and public buildings, such as the Museum, at the site of demolished buildings .

The first architectural drawings of the Museum were made in 1934 and the building was erected in 1936. The paternity of the designs is probably attributed to Rodolfo Petracco. The architecture of the building was characterized by AK. Antoniadis as a fascist monumentality with details of an international style. The building was declared preservable in 1986. Until recently, the building was housed in the offices of the Archaeological Service, which were transferred to another building in 1999.

The ground floor of the Museum is the only open space, while the basement and the first floor are currently archaeological finds.

The building was built on a part of the Hellenistic wall of the ancient city, which is visible in the basement. In the same place, finds are kept from the excavations that have taken place on the island since the beginning of the last century until today.

On the ground floor of the museum is hosted since its foundation until today an exhibition of sculptures from the Italian excavations. On the first floor of the building, which has not been designed as an exhibition space, are preserved vases of the Mycenaean and Geometric period from the excavations of the beginning of the previous century.

In the Museum building there will be repairs and an exhibition of ancient objects on the first floor. This project is under study.