The Arsenāls Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) is housed in a significant architectural monument, an early 19th-century customs warehouse building or arsenal built in the late Russian Classicism style; it has now been converted to suit the needs of a museum.

The building was originally designed by Johann Eduard de Witte. Later the design was expanded, adapting the suggestions of Julius Adolph Spazier (c.1790–after 1870); in 1828, architects from St Petersburg, Alexander Nellinger (1789–1840) and Ivan Franzevich Lucchini (1784–1853), an architect representing the customs office, developed the final version; in 1832, the official unveiling of the building took place.

The building in which the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall is located was used as a warehouse for the most part of its existence. In the 1920s – 1930s it served as storage space for military equipment. After World War II the building was used by the Soviet military as a commercial goods warehouse and as facilities for a military college. In the 1980s it was taken over by the Ministry of Culture and converted into an art museum. On January 1, 1989, after the transfer of the late 1900s collection from the National Museum building in Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street, the Arsenāls Museum of Art started its work here.

According to the Cabinet of Ministers Decree of December 20, 2000, the Latvian Association of Art Museums was abolished and the structures of the National Museum of Art and the Arsenāls Museum of Art were organized simultaneously. Merging the holdings of both institutions, a single museum of national significance – the State Museum of Art – was created. On September  1, 2005, the museum was given the name "Latvian National Museum of Art"; Arsenāls continues to function as an exhibition hall of the LNMA.