Located at the southern section of the Fuxing Lu in Dali City, the Dali Municipal Museum covers an area of 21,510 square meters (5.3 acres).

Once named the Marshal Mansion, the Museum was originally home to Du Wenxiu (1828-1872). Du is well known for leading the Hui ethnic minority revolt against the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in 1856. Once Du conquered Dali, he was elected Marshal of the military forces and the original mansion of Yunnan Province was re-named the Marshal Mansion. The battle lasted 18 years. The mansion was destroyed soon after Du's defeat in 1872. It was not until 1884 that the mansion was restored.

After extensive renovations that returned the mansion to its original glory, the mansion finally opened to the public as a museum in 1987. The 360 meters (1181 feet) high wall once surrounding the mansion can now only be found in the southern section of the estate. The museum consists of a front hall, a back hall, Meridian Gates inside the mansion and two floral halls in the southern and northern parts. The mansion also boasts many functional rooms: military-political-affair setup, living rooms, studies, and storerooms.

The Flora Hall (located in the southern part of the museum) has more than 120 pieces of stone steles carved in different dynasties ranging from Song Dynasty (960-1279) to Qing Dynasty on display. It is reputed as the most influential forest of steles in Yunnan Province. These exhibits provide valuable materials and historical data tracking the development of the local culture in the past dynasties. The Flora Hall (located in the northern part of the museum) showcases stoneware, crockery, bronze implements, porcelains, and jade articles that were excavated in and around Dali. On display throughout the museum are also wood carvings, stone carvings, jade carvings, calligraphies and paintings. The wood caving 'Manjusri Bodhisattva Riding on a Lion' has received recognition worldwide while exhibiting in Japan and Switzerland during the 1990s.

The mansion was listed as a culture relic under provincial protection in 1993. Due to the significance of Du Wenxiu's uprising and his resistance to the control by Qing Dynasty, the mansion was appointed as the Patriotism Education Base in 1998 by the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and the People's Government of Yunnan Province.