By 1890, several Spanish cities had already set arrangements in motion in order to erect their own commemorative monument to the 400th anniversary of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the Americas.

[1] In the case of Granada, a bombastic triumphal arch featuring a mashup of Aztec, Hispano–Arab and Renaissance styles sketched by Justo de Gandarias [es] was tentatively proposed as project for the commemoration of the 400th anniversary.

[2] However, even after asking for funds to the Government of Spain, the Ayuntamiento de Granada did not have even a fraction of the budget needed to carry out such an expensive large-scale endeavor, so a public contest for a new project was called.

[1] After the contest was declared void, Prime Minister Cánovas del Castillo personally took action and awarded the design to Mariano Benlliure.

[1] With the town in arms, after setting fire to the withered ornamental arches that had been prepared time ago to welcome the royal retinue,[1] the scorned people of Granada informally unveiled the monument on 2 November 1892, then placed in its original location at the Paseo del Salón.