One of the largest and oldest organizational units of the Slovak National Museum is the Museum in Martin. Since its inception, the museum has acquired collections of local history not only from Slovakia but also from abroad.

The main building of the SNM in Martin is the Ethnographic Museum, which specializes in the rescue, research, documentation and presentation of folk culture in Slovakia. The museum holds more than a hundred thousand collection items from the field of ethnography. Through exhibited objects, visitors can get acquainted with the traditional culture of Slovakia, which was characterized by a rural character with a predominance of agricultural production.

The Ethnographic Museum in Martin has three permanent ethnographic exhibitions consisting of three separate thematic units entitled:

• Man and Soil - documents the traditional ways of earning a living in Slovakia - by farming and pastoralism.
• Man and Material - familiarization with domestic and craft processing of natural materials.
• Man and Clothing - represents a representative selection of folk clothing from all over Slovakia.

The museum has archaeological finds from the Great Moravia to the emergence of early-Hungarian state. The historical facts document the emergence of a new cultural and economic phenomenon - medieval towns as centers of craft production and trade, as well as guild associations, which later replaced manufactories.

Several short-term exhibitions are held in the main building of the Ethnographic Museum in Martin every year, presenting their own collection or material from other museums and galleries.