Borken is an ancient town in Hesse, 45 km south-west of Kassel and about the same distance north-east of Marburg, in the heart of an area where brown coal was mined for more than 400 years. The museum, founded in 1992 and located in a timber-framed building called Am Amtsgericht in the town centre, shows the history of the local coalfield, the role of brown coal in industrialisation, and the ways of life of lignite miners. A reconstructed gallery displays the methods used for working brown coal underground from the early 20th century until the industry came to an end in the 1980s, when extensive use was made of mechanical cutters and hydraulic props.

Large excavators used in open cast workings for brown coal, and several railway locomotives are displayed in the associated Kohle und Energie (Coal and Energy) theme park extends over 3.5 ha and was opened in 2003. The park includes a memorial to all the Hessian miners who died while at work, and particularly to those killed in a coal dust explosion at the Stozenburg mine in 1988, that brought an end to mining in the region. The nearby power station built in 1922-23 to use brown coal, and designed by the architects Werner Issel (1885-1974) and Walter Klingenberg, closed in 1991, but is now a protected monument. Displays in the nature conservation areas around the lake, the Borkener See, show how land has been reclaimed after brown coal mining.

The museum is a focal point on the Braunkohl-Rundweg, a 35 km route encompassing 20 sites of historical interest in the coalfield that can be followed by hikers or cyclists.