The Museum of Pataj was established in 1959 by the history teacher Pastyik István who was the manager of the museum for the next 40 years. There were only a few objects in the collection at the beginning. Objects he collected were placed in one of the smaller rooms of the Primary School. However, a few month was enough and the room was too small for the collection. Then, the manager singled out a peasant house with a barn. The institution bought it and renovated it after which it opened in the summer of 1962. The first visitors were the composer Kodály and his entourage.