By 1908, 200 exhibits could be presented in the house at Ratsgasse 1 in Rudolstadt as the »City Collection of Antiquities«. Unfortunately, the location proved to be provisional and the collection moved to the newly built town hall and to the Ludwigsburg until rooms were made available in Heidecksburg Palace in 1919. From 1946, the collection, which had already grown considerably by then, could be opened as the »Rudolstadt Museum of Local History«. The Castle Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Local History were finally combined in 1950 as the »State Museums Heidecksburg«.
With its 2,500 exhibits this collection does not only point at the events of the March Revolution in 1848/49 and the time from the constitutional monarchy to the abdication of the prince. But it also presents an overview of the history of the town of Rudolstadt and the administrative district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt.