National Museum of Niš, National museum in Niš, Serbia

The National Museum of Niš has no purpose-built home: its administration occupies a 1927 eclectic villa built for the merchant Veljko A. Stefanović at Generala Milojka Lešjanina 8, a protected monument with a glass marquee over a polygonal terrace and a small circular fountain in the courtyard. The permanent archaeological display is in a one-storey neo-classical building of 1894, a former bank, at Nikole Pašića 59.

Founded on 1 April 1933 by Adam Oršić Slavetić, Rudolf Bratanić, Borivoje Gojković, Aleksandar Nenadović and Borivoje Popović as the Historical Museum, it was renamed the National Museum of Niš in 1947. A direct bomb hit on 2 September 1944 destroyed much of its collection. Since 1950 it has occupied two buildings, including an 1894 neo-classical former bank at 59 Nikole Pašića Street.

The museum features exhibitions honoring Serbian writers Stevan Sremac and Branko Miljković, who are connected to the city. These memorial displays help visitors understand the local literary tradition.

The museum has no purpose-built building: the administration sits in a 1927 villa at Generala Milojka Lešjanina 14, while the permanent archaeological display is in the 1894 neo-classical former bank at Nikole Pašića 59. The Mediana site, Ćele Kula, the Red Cross camp and the Synagogue Gallery are separate locations. A relocation to Jeronimova Street was planned after a 2018 restitution decision.

The museum's home at 14 Generala Milojka Lešjanina is a 1927 villa built for the merchant Veljko A. Stefanović, listed as a protected cultural monument (SK 2083). In 2018 the restitution agency returned it to its former owners, so a move to a new building on Jeronimova street, on land bequeathed to the city in 1894 by Bishop Jeronim Jovanović, was planned.