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1892-3 Mardid
| Name: | Columbian Historical Exposition Exposicion Historica – Americana, and Exposicion Historica – Europea |
| Dates: | 30 Oct 1992 (six weeks late)- 31 Jan 1893 (a month longer than planned) |
| Days: | c90 days |
| Venue: | El Palacio de la Biblioteca y Museos Nacionales de España, Madrid – 0.5 ha or 5,000 sq m (1.2 acres) |
| Theme: | Celebrating the Quadricentennial anniversary of the nation’s discovery of America |
| Exhibitors: | |
| Awards: | |
| Visitors: | |
| Legacy: | Spain assembled ethnographic exhibits from the Americas for their museums. many exhibitors saw this as a twpfer with 1893 Chicago |
The show was planned to celebrate the Quadricentennial anniversary of the nation’s discovery of America. Sadly for Spain, the following year, it was rather overshadowed by the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Spain had organised a successful event four years earlier, the 1888 Exposición Universal de Barcelona. For the anniversary they planned two events – Exposicion Historica, Americana which focused on the context of Colombus’s discovery on north America and the subsequent foundings of colonies in south America – Exposicion Historica, Europea focused on the Iberian Peninsula at the time of this discovery.
Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was appointed to be in charge of the celebrations of tha anniversary ass President of the Junta Directiva del Centenario. He was a Spanish politician and historian, the ‘architect’ of the regime that effected the 1874 Bourbon monarchy restoration, who had served six terms as Spain’s Prime Minister. {Four years after the event, 1897, he would be assassinated by an anarchist, Michele Angiolillo.)
The shows were both in El Palacio de la Biblioteca y Museos Nacionales de España, Madrid.
The Queen Regent of Spain and the King and Queen of Portugal formally opened the event on 11 Nov 1892.
19 countries exhibited – Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Sweden, Uruguay and USA participated along with the Captaincy General of Cuba and Spain herself.
Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain exhibit
 USA exhibit |  Ecuador exhibit |
The USA and Mexico had the largest exhibition areas, Spain, Portugal and Costa Rica each had two rooms, the other nations had just one, or shared one. The USA was of course keen to participate to assist with itsrecruitment for 1893 Chicago event.
The exhibits were located in rooms all around the outside of the venue (see above)
One feature at the show exhibited native cultures in the Americas organised arbitraily into three periods – pre-Columbian, Columbian and post-Columbian. Spain suggested twelve groups andthese three periods, however, elsewhere in the show the organisation and layout was decided by the exhibiting nation. As there were 200,000 – 250,00o exhibits this must have made any organised study/visit route. The hosts did produce a fourteen-volume special catalogue to try to help.
Mexico contributed four galleries of artifacts, drawings, photographs, and replicas included models of the El Tajín, Teuchitlan and Xochicalco pyramids and an innovative, multi-building model of the complete Cempoala site.
Costa Rica’s exhibit, organised by the National Museum of Costa Rica, displayed some 1,000 relics from a recent cemetery excavation at Guayabo de Turrialba. Much of the Costa Rican display was subsequently taken to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Norway exhibited a quarter-scale Viking boat.
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