The 1892 Historical American Exposition held in Madrid was intended to mark the four hundredth year of the discovery of America.

[2] Several countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Sweden, Uruguay and USA participated,[3] along with the Captaincy General of Cuba and Spain herself.

After the Madrid exhibition, much of the Costa Rican display was taken to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

[3] The Mexican exhibit was curated by Francisco del Paso y Troncoso and included models of the El Tajín, Xochicalco, and Teuchitlan pyramids and of the complete Cempoala site.

[4] The Spanish section had many artefacts loaned from the National Archaeological Museum of Spain including the Troano codex[5]