The National Museum in Leskovac was founded on May 2, 1948, by the city of Leskovac and it performs its activities directly as well as through its museum departments and facilities on the territories of the surrounding municipalities – Bojnik, Lebane and Medveđa.
The museum is a regional museum heritage institution that contributes to the development of culture in Leskovac and its surroundings, presenting the knowledge about Leskovac and the Leskovac region in an interesting and attractive way, which is attractive to the local population, but also a wider social community.
The National Museum in Leskovac is a non-profit institution, which collects, stores, documents, studies and presents historical-artistic works collected in the territory that it covers.
The museum objects are placed in its collection according to their belonging. The exhibits in the permanent display or that are exhibited at occasional museum exhibitions spread knowledge about the historical contexts of their origin, their use and their artistic value.
Until May 10, 1974, the museum had been located in the adapted Bora Dimitrijević Piksla’s House and then moved to a new, purposely-built building, where a new permanent exhibition was opened.
The National Museum in Leskovac belongs to the complex type of museum which, as part of its core activity, has the departments of Archaeology, Ethnology, History, History of Art and Fine Arts, as well as departments for conservation and restoration work, documentation, professional work with the public and a professional library.
Within the museum building, in addition to the space with the permanent exhibition, there are two art galleries, a hall for scientific gatherings and a library.
As part of its publishing activity, the museum publishes the annual magazine “Leskovački zbornik” and has a library with special editions where works important for the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage of the Leskovac area, both tangible and intangible, are printed.
Occasionally, some professional and scientific gatherings, various lectures and forums and workshops are organized in the museum. Since 1988, the “Cultural-historical heritage of southern Serbia” scientific conference has been held biennially. In 2015, it was declared the best museum in the territory of the Republic of Serbia by the Museum Society of Serbia.