The gathering of objects for the Museum of Ironworking History of Kropa began prior to World War II. In 1949 a special committee was set up to found the museum, and preparations were made in parallel with the establishment of the Technical Museum of Slovenia.

The Iron Forging Museum in Kropa officially opened on 29 June 1952, and until 1955 it was called the Technical Museum of Slovenia, the Kropa Collection Centre.

The first exhibition collection consisted of two exhibition spaces in Klinarjeva hiša (Klinar House), where the museum is still housed today. In 1963 the Iron Forging Museum, together with the Museum of Apiculture in Radovljica and the Museum of Hostages in Begunje, merged to become Radovljica Municipal Museums.

Klinar House (Klinarjeva hiša), in which the Iron Forging Museum is housed, is an example of an imposing ironworkers’ house dating from the late 18th century. It has a typical internal layout with numerous masonry details made of green stone – typical of such representative buildings in the Gorenjska region. On the first floor, the distinctive central room – a drawing room featuring a cassette ceiling with three Baroque oil paintings – has been preserved.