Behind the scenes: museography and projection of national imaginaries in the Historical Exhibitions (Madrid 1892)

Abstract

We propose a reflection on the projection of national imaginaries, on both sides of the Atlantic, from the analysis of the museum discourses deployed by Portugal and Colombia in the Historical Exhibitions that took place in Madrid, in 1892, as part of the celebration of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America. The first, an Iberian country in crisis that, resorting to an idealized past, displays narratives based on its maritime identity, converted into Atlantic projection and central element of its configuration as a modern state. The second, a newly independent American nation in search of identity elements that would differentiate it from its neighbors and at the same time contribute to the concert of modernity. In this case, it is the indigenous antiquities that allow it to demonstrate the degrees of civilization achieved by its former inhabitants that, however, will not be included in national history. These seemingly distant cases are part not only of a transatlantic story, but of stories connected through a "contact situation" of great relevance in the projection of national imaginaries, as was the centenarist celebration.