anniversary of the E. Leon Jimenes tobacco company, The Centra Cultural Eduardo Leon Jimenes opened to the public on 3 October 2003. Critics and those who have visited in its first weeks are lauding the Centra Leon as the best museum in the country, and one of the most advanced in the Caribbean, given its functional architecture, content and symbolisms, as well as for its state-of-the-art visual and sensorial features.

The original idea was to fulfill a promise made during the inauguration of the First Eduardo Leon Jimenes Art Contest In 1964, Don Eduardo Leon Asensio had promised to build a great institution to house the works of art that would win prizes in the contest in the years to come. But once the project was included as part of the company's centennial celebrations, the positive energy that has characterized the Leon family would soon attract contributions and a host of talent and synergies that would expand the focus to that of a cultural eco-museum.The center evolved from being a platform devoted to the promotion of contemporary art to a space for creating awareness of the diversity and wealth of Dominican culture, customs, identity and the ecology, as it seeks to promote and preserve these values for future generations.