It is a beautiful building framed by gardens that dates back to 1899. Its initial purpose was to become the most important hospital in the north. However, due to the Mexican Revolution, the construction was used as a military barracks and later became the Juana Villalobos boarding school. It then housed the Durango State Institute of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

In recent years, the building was restored and transformed into the Bicentennial Cultural and Convention Center, a complex that has adapted its original architecture with technological resources to host commercial exhibitions and gatherings of all types and sizes.

In 2010, the building was beautified with a series of murals sculpted in cantera stone by more than twenty artists and craftsmen. These murals commemorate moments in Durango's history and are used for an attractive light and sound show held in the Convention Center's garden.