The museum, located since 1956 in the former convent of the Oblate Sisters, exhibits plans, paintings, etchings or prints that document the history and the appearance of Florence from its origins down to the period in which the town became capital of Italy.
One of the most important and extraordinary documents is the so-called "della catena" plan, a perfect l9th reproduction of the late 15th century original preserved in the Friedrich Museum of Berlin. The other sections exhibit oil and tempera paintings representing historical events and typical scenes of the eighteenth and ninetecnth centuries.

It is worth stopping to take a close look at the large lunettes by Giusto Utens (1599), dedicated to the main Medici villas, and at the very famous collection of etchings by Giuseppe Zocchi (1744), dedicated to Florentine churches, palaces and villas. Also worth a visit are the etchings by Telemaco Signorini (1835-1901).

A section of the museum is reserved to the works of Giuseppe Poggi (1811-1901), the Florentine architect and town planner, and to his drawings and projects for the enlargement and transformation of the town after 1865.