The museum opened in spring 2001 to mark the hundredth anniversary of the Nobel Prize. Originally called the Nobel Museum, it was renamed the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019 when Erika Lanner became director. The building itself carries centuries of Stockholm history. The Borshusetthe former Stock Exchange Buildingstands on the north side of Stortorget, the oldest square in Stockholm where the infamous Stockholm Bloodbath took place in 1520. Today the building also houses the Swedish Academy, which awards the Literature Prize, and the Nobel Library. The museum's stated mission is to be a reflecting and forward-looking and spirited memory of Nobel laureates and their achievements.

The permanent collection features objects donated by laureates themselves, each presented alongside the personal stories behind their discoveries. Rather than static displays of certificates and medals, the museum brings science and achievement to life through films, theater performances, and debates. The traveling exhibition Sketches of Science photographs 42 laureates alongside their own hand-drawn sketches explaining their Nobel-winning discoveries, revealing the human beings behind the breakthroughs. This exhibition has traveled to Dubai, Singapore, and venues around the world, spreading the museum's mission far beyond Stockholm's old town.

The museum gift shop offers one of Stockholm's most unusual treats: Alfred Nobel's gold medal rendered in dark fair-trade chocolate. Visitors can also purchase Swedish dynamite candyflavored with jalapeno pepper, a playful nod to Nobel's explosive legacy. In 2011, artist Artan Mansouri created paintings symbolizing Nobel's life for the shop. Beyond the novelties, the store carries books by and about laureates, educational toys, and items found nowhere else. The merchandise reflects the museum's approachserious science delivered with Swedish wit and warmth.

Bistro Nobel serves more than lunch. The Nobel tea poured here is the same blend served at the annual Nobel Banquet, and the Nobel ice cream exists nowhere else on earth. The undersides of the bistro's chairs have become an unlikely gallery of genius. When laureates visit the museum, they are invited to sign a chair, creating an ever-growing collection of autographs hidden in plain sight. Visitors who know the tradition often duck beneath tables to spot familiar names. The gesture captures something essential about the Nobel ethos: extraordinary achievement resting on ordinary furniture, greatness hiding in unexpected places.