The museum emerged in 1999 from the merger of the 110-year-old Museum of Folklore with the European Collection of the Ethnological Museum. It is dedicated to the worlds of life in Europe and European cultural contacts from the 18th century to the present day.

With around 275,000 original objects, it houses one of the largest European collections of everyday culture and popular art. The themes are as diverse as the cultures of Europe: from weddings and commemorating the dead to Napoleon worship and Halloween to music in Sardinia and Perchtenlaufen in the Alps.

With the permanent exhibition "Cultural Contacts. Life in Europe", the museum in Dahlem presented a cross-section of its diverse collections. The  „Kulturtage im Museum Europäischer Kulturen“ (Culture Days at the Museum of European Cultures) take place annually. The series, organized in cooperation with cultural institutions, associations and embassies, presents one European region at a time.