The Museum started functioning in 1990 and is housed in a building of unique architectural beauty: the mansion once belonging to scholar, doctor and politician Konstantinos Kourtidis (1870-1944). Built in 1883 by local craftsmen, the mansion constitutes a notable example of the region's bourgeois architecture and was donated by Konstantinos Kourtidis' daughter, Maria Kourtidi-Pastra, so as to become the Silk Museum.

As of 1986, systematic historical, ethnological and architectural research was undertaken, with a view to exploiting the mansion's premises and organizing a permanent exhibition on sericulture and silk manufacturing, which form part of the town's tradition.

After functioning for 15 years, the Museum was closed to the public so as to expand the premises accessible to visitors and renew its exhibition; it reopened in 2009.