The museum is a joint establishment between Apsara Authority and Sophia University with the funding from AEON 1% club (Japan) in order to exhibit and preserve the artifacts discovered at Banteay Kdei Temple. From its opening in 2008 the museum has gradually expanded its exhibition and programming.

This museum showcases the best in Asian textiles from around the Mekong region, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and India. There are a variety of galleries showing the weaving process in each country and a mix of traditional and contemporary galleries showing different regional costumes past and present.

In the early of 1980s, when Cambodia was in trouble due to the war, there was an exhibition of Khmer Ceramics in Singapore by collecting all kinds of ceramics from private property to display. Those ceramics were considered as Khmer-style, which was different from other ceramics.