This article examines the educational potential of museum pedagogy in developing historical thinking amongpre-service history teachers, with particular emphasis on the criteria for its effective pedagogical application. The studyis grounded in contemporary educational theories, including constructivism, inquiry-based learning, activity-oriented pedagogy,and experiential learning. Historical thinking is conceptualized as a complex cognitive, reflective, and axiologicalcompetence that enables future teachers to interpret historical reality critically, contextually, and ethically (Ortiqov, 2023).Museums are interpreted as authentic and multidimensional learning environments that provide direct engagement withprimary historical sources, material culture, and visual-narrative representations of the past (Museumsbund e.V., 2010;Nigmatov, 2021). The article systematically analyzes the educational opportunities of museum pedagogy and substantiatesa structured system of application criteria–scientific, didactic, interpretative, organizational, and assessment-related–that ensure its effectiveness in history teacher education. The findings demonstrate that museum pedagogy functions asa powerful pedagogical mechanism for transforming theoretical historical knowledge into professional historical thinkingcompetencies, thereby enhancing the quality of pre-service history teacher preparation in higher education.