It is a museum in the center of Chisinau, the only institution of this profile in the Republic of Moldova. It was founded by Alexandru Plămădeală and Auguste Baillayre in 1939.

Currently, the MNAM heritage includes over 39,000 works, which reflect the development of fine arts from the 15th to the 21st centuries. The museum permanently hosts exhibitions of European, Russian and Oriental art.

In 1939, the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală selected around 160 works by Bessarabian and Romanian artists to establish the first art gallery in Chisinau, with Auguste Baillayre as its chief curator. The inauguration of the Art Gallery took place on November 26, 1939, which, in fact, meant the opening of the first art museum, whose successor today is the MNAM. In the first days of World War II, the works of the Pinacoteca were loaded into two wagons and shipped to Kharkov; their fate remains unknown to this day.

Starting with 1944, the Republican Museum of Fine Arts resumed its activity in one of the most sumptuous buildings in Chisinau - the house or "palace" of Vladimir Hertza, built between 1903-1905. The author of the project was the Austrian architect H. Lonssky. This building represents a true architectural masterpiece, built in the Viennese Baroque style, with a special ornamental richness both outside and inside.

In 1957, the house of lawyer Moisei Kligman was also transferred to the museum, located in the immediate vicinity of the first. The latter was built at the end of the 19th century in the neoclassical style.

Since 1988, the main headquarters of the Hertza House Museum has been closed for restoration, and the rooms in Kligman's house have been redeveloped as warehouses for the preservation of heritage.

Starting with 1989 and until now, the activity of the National Museum of Fine Arts has been carried out in the premises of the building with no. 115, on 31 August 1989 Street. The permanent exhibition of the Museum is also organized in the halls of this building. This architectural monument was built in 1900, according to the project of the architect A. Bernardazzi in neoclassical style with Gothic elements. Initially, the "Princess Natalia Dadiani" girls' high school functioned here.

The museum's collection has been completed over time, with old icons, works by Bessarabian painters and those from Russia, Western Europe, Japan, India, China.

In 1947, through the will of the professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Pavel Shillingovski, the MNAM was donated an impressive collection of graphic works by European and Russian masters from the 17th–19th centuries. In 1962, the museum received as a gift the collection of the former professor of the "School of Fine Arts" in Chisinau, the painter (and chief curator at the opening in 1939) Auguste Baillayre. In addition to his status as a founder, Baillayre offered a substantial donation consisting of 342 works[3] by artists, both national and universal.

In 1975, works by the painters Orest Kiprenski („Fruit Girl”), Vladimir Makovski („At the Tavern”), graphic prints by Albrecht Dürer, William Hogarth, Katty Kolvitz, Piotr Utkin, Vasili Perov, Filipp Maliavin were purchased.

The Museum's collections are supplemented through the acquisition policy: purchases, donations, transfers, etc. Thus, due to the perpetual nature of this process, currently the patrimony of the National Museum of Fine Arts counts over 44 thousand works, which, in terms of structure, are presented as follows:

Collection of ancient art (coins, sculpture, decorative art)

Collection of medieval art (icons, religious objects, old books)

Collection of Moldavian painting, 19th-20th centuries

Collection of Moldavian graphics, 19th-20th centuries

Collection of Moldavian sculpture, 19th-20th centuries XLX-XX

Collection of Moldavian decorative art (carpets, tapestries, ceramics, wooden objects, glass, etc.) 20th century

Collection of Russian painting and miniatures, 18th-20th century

Collection of Russian graphics, 18th-20th century

Collection of Russian sculpture, 18th-20th century

Collection of Russian decorative art, 19th-20th century.

Collection of Western European painting and miniatures, 15th-20th century (Italy, France, Austria, Holland, Flanders, England, Spain)

Collection of Western European sculpture, 18th-20th century

Collection of numismatics and medals (Romania, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Egypt, Spain, Ireland, USA), 16th-20th century.

One of the Museum's primary tasks is the conservation and restoration of heritage pieces. A team of restorers works on this task, who, with great skill and meticulousness, restore and prolong the life of many works of undeniable artistic value.