Designing America: Spain´s Imprint in the U.S.

With some 500 years of uninterrupted control, Spain was the first European nation to settle in the territory that is known today as the United States, and the one that has stayed the longest. This influence extends to very distinct fields: from the exploration and charting on the map of the American territory to the founding of American cities. A long period of Spanish rule (1565-1821) that has left behind pivotal influences on the territory’s structure and the composition of its landscape. Through to today, the work of Spanish engineers and architects in the United States has kept this connection alive.

The exhibition is divided into four blocks: The Image of America; The Construction of the Territory; Cities: the Spanish Urban Space; and Constructed Works: Architecture and Engineering, and takes a transversal, thematic and non-chronological route through these contributions. In each of these, the collection of maps, books, images and objects is accompanied by parallel narratives that complement and enrich it. The tour is complemented by the installation La lengua española en la geografía americana (The Spanish Language in American Geography) and the video installation La Frontera española en Norteamérica (The Spanish Border in North America).

This exhibition takes place in the context of several events of great importance for the common history of Spain and the United States that are being celebrated between 2013 and 2015. These include the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Florida by Ponce de León; the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific by Núñez de Balboa; the 300th anniversary of the birth of Fray Junípero Serra, founder of California; and the 450th anniversary of the Spanish founding of the first American city, St. Augustine, Florida.

Catalogue:

Hernández León, Juan Miguel y Francisco Arques Soler, eds. 2014. Diseñar América. El trazado español de los Estados Unidos. Madrid: Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Full programme