Located next to the majestic Nidaros Cathedral, the Palazzo Arcivescovile di Trondheim (Erkebispegården) is one of the oldest and most imposing medieval stone buildings in Scandinavia, dating back to the 12th-13th century, when it housed the Archbishop of Nidaros and administered a vast ecclesiastical area (including Iceland, Greenland, and the North Sea Islands).

The museum, opened in 1997 on the site of two wooden buildings destroyed by a fire in 1983, showcases the results of the massive archaeological excavations conducted in the 1990s: over 160,000 artifacts found and the remains of the foundations of about 100 medieval buildings, including three overlapping coin dies, with the oldest mint used by Archbishop Gaute Ivarsson, preserved in its original location.

The exhibition also includes 120 original medieval sculptures from the western facade of Nidaros Cathedral, reconstructive models of the palace in different historical periods, and an evocative narrative audiovisual presentation of the complex.