The museum was founded in 1878 by the Ministry of Public Education as the "Muséum ethnographique des missions scientifiques" (Ethnographic Museum of Scientific Expeditions) and was housed in the Trocadéro Palace, which had been built for the third Paris World's Fair that year. The palace, whose architect was Gabriel Davioud, had two wings flanking a central concert hall. The Musée national des Monuments Français was created at the same time in the other wing.