In preparation for the millennial celebrations, in 1885 the idea of establishing a museum in Makó, Csanád County, was proposed. After a long break, in 1943, several rooms were allocated for the museum materials collected, but these were significantly reduced during the war. The Makó Museum was officially established in 1950, and its collection area covers the 16 municipalities of Makó.

The József Attila Museum in Makó has established the following collections: ethnographic (16,000 objects), which include painted folk furniture, traditional clothing, agricultural and household tools, craft workshops, etc.; literary (2,176 objects), rich in relics of József Attila; local history (1,000 objects); fine arts (4,114 objects), including works from the artist colonies of the 1920s and 1970s-80s, as well as a gallery of historical portraits. In this last collection, paintings of Maria Theresa, Queen Elizabeth, Ferenc Deák, Lajos Kossuth, viscounts, and main counts are displayed, some of which are also exhibited separately.

In the library collection (14,000 objects), in addition to local publications, there is a rich collection of ethnographic materials, literary history (related to József Attila), and local press. The museum also holds collections of natural sciences (96 objects), photographs (7,000 objects), archives (3,000 objects), and historical documentation (11,000 objects). The museum was previously housed in a bourgeois house, but due to the growing collection, the building became too small. The city of Makó built three museums simultaneously: in 1979, the literary exhibition space in the Espersit house was completed; in 1980, the Makó Onion House was opened in the Ópusztaszer National Memorial Park; and in 1981, the new main building of the museum was inaugurated.

An open-air museum was established in the museum courtyard, which includes a Makó onion house, blacksmith and wheelwright workshops, a carpentry workshop, small houses, grain barns, and much more. On the upper floor of the main building, there is a permanent exhibition presenting the history of the city, while temporary exhibitions can be viewed on the ground floor.