The Homeland Museum of Knjаževаc was founded with the aim to collect, keep, scientifically study and present the cultural heritage of the Knjаževаc region.

The Homeland Museum of Knjаževаc as a unique identity card of the town represents a regional museological research centre with a modernized program scheme which in content and topics exceeds homeland and regional frameworks with an enhanced educational and promotional role.

In 1970 at the initiative of teacher Nikola Micić Lаnda, Knjаževаc received a historical-museum collection founded as part of the Town Library, and since 1971 the town takes over the care of antiques and items from the nearby sites. The museum collection was in the premises of the Town Library at Trg oslobođenjа 19 until 1975 when, after systematical archaeological research on the Roman-Byzantine site Timacum Minus in village Rаvnа, a permanent museum exhibition was opened in Kаrаđorđeva Street. Since 1971, for the purpose of keeping the museum items, a part of a facility at Kаrаđorđeva Street 15 was emptied. The museum collection in this space was officially opened to the public on 25 November 1975.

As an independent cultural institution it started work in1980 under the name the Homeland Museum of Knjаževаc. In 1982 the facilities for the needs of the museum were provided, and after the research of prehistoric sites Škodrino polje and Bаrаnicа organized in the same year by the Centre for Archaeological Research of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, the collection received new items and it has gained a new appearance since 1985. In 1987 architect Simа Gušić from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments designed the project for the adaptation of the facility at Kаrаđorđeva 15 according to which in the next twenty years the museum space would be worked on. In 1996, after the works on the renovation and adaptation of one wing of the building, a part of the rich Homeland Museum fund, thanks to Petar Petrović, PhD, architect Sima Gušić, curators: archaeologist Svetozаr Jovаnović and ethnologist Dušica Živković achieved a new, modern concept and presentation.

During a few decades of devoted work, the Homeland museum in Knjаževаc has become a complex whole composed of the sections for archaeology, ethnology, cultural history and history of art, conservation, photo documentation and also the guide service, i.e. the Main Building of the Homeland Museum, the Town Museum in the house of Aca Stаnojević and Archaeo-Ethno Park with Lapidarium in Ravna.

A favourable geographical and strategic position of the region of Knjаževаc, rich natural resources, numerous antiques, the remains of towns, fortifications, churches, all this started to attract the attention of significant scientists and researchers in the middle of 19th century. That is when the first exploration of the Timok Valley began.

The first study about the region of Knjаževаc, as Petrović and Jovаnović state, was published by Stevаn Mаčаj, the physician of Knjаževаc region, a member of the Hungarian Royal Society in Pest (natural sciences) and a correspondent member of the Serbian Learned Society (Material for the Topography of the region of Knjаževаc, Serbian Learned Society Herald XIX, 1866. 287-345). Feliks Kаnic, a famous travel writer and explorer of antiquities, visited Knjаževаc on several occasions. Here he stayed as a personal guest of doctor Mаčаj and joined his research activities. As a result of these research trips, valuable descriptions of Knjаževаc and its surroundings can be found in Kanic’s works: Roman Studies in Serbia (Vienna, 1892. 97-103) in which he pays special attention to Ravna and the list of significant antiquities of this region of Serbia, the land and the population, published for the first time in 1904 in Leipzig. For the study of Roman epigraphic monuments of the Knjаževаc region and because of the data on the first activities in collecting and “protection” of cultural monuments in Knjаževаc, it is important to mention Alfred von Domachewski, one of the editors of the publication Corpus of Latin Inscriptions (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum), who left data on the monuments transferred to the Knjаževаc barracks from the banks of the Timok River and from Ravna. Important for the study of the region of Knjаževаc are also the articles by Jovаn Mišković, one of the most learned officers in Serbia and regular member of the Serbian Learned Society, the Region of Knjаževаc, published in the SLS Herald in 1881, the book by Kosta Popović: Travels of Lyceum Cadets through Serbia 1863, published in 1876 and the study of Drаgoljub Jovаnović: The Region of Knjаževаc, Timočka Krajina – materials for the history and ethnography of Serbia, published in Belgrade in 1889.

In the period1899 -1902 Anton von Premerstein from the Austrian Archaeological Institute and Nikolа Vulić a professor from Belgrade University professor, carried out research work at the archaeological site in Ravna. In addition to the valuable data published in the Yearbook of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the Monument of the Serbian Royal Academy, the work of Nikolа Vulić on the Ravna site represents pioneering steps in the field of museology in this area, when numerous monuments were discovered during the archaeological research, redeemed or received as gift from the local people and transferred to the museum in Niš.

In the publication of Petar Petrović and Svetozаr Jovаnović Cultural Treasure of the Region of Knjаževаc (Belgrade, 1997. 9-10), there is systematized data on the first exploration of antiquities.

It is clear that the work on collecting antiquities cannot be considered as organized museological activity but for the time and environment in which they occurred they represented real pioneering ventures. It is known that Dr Mаčаj was the first numismatist in Knjaževac, and that Ristić, a professor from Knjaževac, was interested in archaeology, and based on written evidence by former principal of the Knjaževac High School Milаn A. Kostić, we can conclude that there was certain interest and conscience about the importance of preserving antiquities – cultural monuments which mostly originate from late ancient or medieval times, and can be found around the town. In the archives kept in the Historical Archives of Timočka Krajina Region some extraordinary examples of folk art and crafts are mentioned are mentioned, and they were exhibited and even awarded at World Fairs at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th centuries (World Fair in Paris in 1889 and London in 1907). Some of the planned activities in order to preserve the cultural heritage and raise the level of cultural life in Knjаževac are related to the Association from Timok and Krajina founded in 1925 in Belgrade and its youth clubs which organized cultural events (exhibitions, lectures, picnics) in towns of the Timok Region. The first big exhibition was organized in Knjаževac in 1933 in the building of the High School of that time, and today „Dimitrije Todorović Kаplаr” Primary School on the occasion of the centennial of the liberation of the Timok Region and Knjаževac from the Turks in 1833.

It can be said that the year 1947 was the beginning of the systematic collection work, if we do not take into consideration the inventory and "collecting" of museum items during 19th and the beginning of 20th centuries. The first collection was exposed in the hospital economy building – old hospital building from 1851 which was later demolished. The professional assistance given by the Belgrade museum in the collecting of documents and museum items was described by a man from Knjаževac who was himself the initiator and implementer of this exhibition, Žikа Antić. It remained in the same place and in the same form until 1956 when it was transferred to the town centre, but in 1957 it ceased to exist and a part of the exhibits was taken over by the museums in Niš and Zаječаr.

The Homeland Museum Knjаževаc for more than three decades has been cooperating with scientific institutions, first of all the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade, takes part in the archaeological research of Ravna (Timаcum Minus) – an ancient administrative, military, cultural and economic centre of a wider region, a Byzantine and medieval settlement with a very rich necropolis. In cooperation with the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments from Niš, the museum took part in the exploration of medieval churches in Donja and Gornja Kаmenica. The archaeological research in Škodrino Polje near Jelаšnica, and the research of paleolite findings in caves near Baranica and notches in the vicinity of village Gаbrovnicа, the Homeland Museum performed with the Centre for Archaeological Research of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.

With the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade for more than a decade, systematic recognition work has been done. Valuable documentation was collected about the spiritual and material culture of the wider area of Knjаževаc and Stara Planina Mountain, and a monograph called “Knjаževаc and its Surroundings” was published.

The Homeland Museum signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade and, as part this agreement, international cooperation is realized between the said institutions and the Archaeological Institute from Frankfurt on Mein. The team of experts is headed by Gerdа Sommer von Bülow, PhD, Sofijа Petković PhD and curator-archaeologist Bojаnа Ilijić. In the first phase of this international project, geophysical prospection of cultural heritage Timаcum Minus in village Rаvnа near Knjаževac was performed. The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.

In cooperation with the Department for History of Art of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, under the management of Professor Nenаd Mаkuljević, PhD, the Homeland Museum Knjаževаc commenced the realization of a several-year long scientific and research project “Sacral topography of Knjаževаc and its surroundings” supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. „The Fruit of the Timok” is a scientific and research project initiated and commenced by the Homeland Museum Knjаževаc, and which represents the cooperation of experts from several museums from the region and Serbia, from various fields: ethnology, archaeology, history, art, biology, etc.

The region of Knjаževаc and nearby sites, which are the concern of the Homeland Museum of Knjаževаc, offer great possibilities for explorers and scientists. This is influenced by the very concept of the museum and also the location of the Archaeo-Ethno Park. In that way the museum offers possibilities for organizing various courses (conservation, school of old crafts), scientific conferences and discussions, field teaching (archaeology, ethnology, museology, conservation, etc.). It should be noted that the Homeland Museum of Knjаževаc is a relatively new institution of protection and that is why all these possibilities should be a challenge for all museum workers, explorers and scientists.