The museum is located just outside the town at Contrada San Nicola, with a panoramic view over the Hill of the Temples. This area has recently been identified as the site of the upper agora of the ancient city and there are archaeological and architectural remains to be seen.
The museum is housed in a complex of buildings redesigned in the 1960s in a perfect blending of the new site of the museum with the restored Convent of San Nicola (14th c.), containing the library, the conference hall and the auditorium.
The museum illustrates the history of the ancient city of Agrigento and its territory from prehistory to the period of Hellenization.
The original collection, from the Civic Museum, consisted of numerous items discovered during excavations conducted at the beginning of the 20th century. Other exhibits were ceded by the Archaeological Museums of Palermo and Syracuse. The most important material is however from excavations conducted by the Soprintendenza of Agrigento.
The museum is arranged both chronologically and topographically, in two separate but complementary sections, and the exhibition is richly documented throughout a continuous guided tour that leads the visitor, in the end, the same entry point.