The municipal museum was fouded in 1951 and opened to the public in 1956. Professor Ion Berciu deserves special mention for increasing the prestige and size of the collections. So does Ioan Raica, teacher, collector and the founder of the museum. Since 2001, the museum bears his name. Since 1997 the museum is a department of the Cultural Centre „Lucian Blaga” of Sebeş. Zapolya house is a historic monument dating from the second half of the 14th century, when it used to be a small palace that functioned as the Sebeş Residence, the Transylvanian Diet, later as residence of the Province's voivodes. In 1581 and 1617 the building underwent overall repair, and in the 19th cen...tury the facade was restored. The archaeological finds illustrate the history of the human communities in the Sebeş area during the Neolithic, Bronze, Daco-Roman, Premediaeval, and Early Mediaeval Ages. The history artefacts include guild objects and tools, mediaeval weapons, worth mentioning being the unique piece "Executioner's Sword" (1463); old prints. The ethnographic exhibits include Romanian and Saxon costumes, furniture pieces, fabrics, pottery characteristic of the zone (Săsciori and Petreşti), wooden and glass icons (Laz, Lancrăm, Loman, Răhău), the African ethnographic collection of Franz Binder, a pharmacist from Sebeş (1820 - 1875). The natural sciences exhibits include plants, minerals, and naturalized animals from the area. Fine arts are represented by the Sava Henţia paintings, born at Sebeşel (1848 - 1904). .