The Association of Glass Workers was responsible for the establishment of the Musem in Nový Bor. The museum was opened in May of 1893 thanks to the support of local councillors, who vacated space for the exhibition. Although the city provided extra room for the presentation of expanding museum collection, a satisfactory solution was not made until 1952. The museum was relocated to house no. 105 where it still is. A two-storey late baroque building with a high mansard roof and a fancy entrance portal is a typical building of Nový Bor. It was built in 1804 by Johann Christoph Socher, glass businessman, who had sold glass in Mexico for thirteen years.
The permanent museum exposition presents stylish and technological development of Czech glass, especially Nový Bor, from the 18th century to the present. It is divided according to different techniques of glass processing into painted, engraved, blown and cut glass. The exposition is supplemented by historical objects from glass workshops.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum organizes short-term exhibitions on various topics. There are historical and technological exhibitions, as well as the monographic exhibitions of glass artists. The museum is also one of the organizers of IGS – International Glass Symposium, a triennial that has taken place since 1982 in Nový Bor. In 1994, the museum renewed the tradition of the competition between glass artists, glassmakers and students. This competition takes place every three years and is called “Craft and Art Glass in Nový Bor”.

The Glass Museum in Nový Bor belongs amongst the oldest glass museums in the world. The permanent exhibition is not traditionally arranged but according to the technologies of the processing – into the exposition of engraved, cut, painted and blown glass. Visitors can find here also models of glass workshops. Unique is especially the collection of painted Art Nouveau glass, which is the largest of its kind in the world!