The America Museum Madrid

If this museum were located on the Paseo del Prado, it would be packed with visitors. Set in the university district north-west of the city centre, it remains a well kept secret. The spacious building has two floors of permanent exhibits, divided into five sections: Instruments of Knowledge, the American Reality, Society, Religion and Communication. Maps explain the movements of native peoples through the Americas and the routes of the explorers; feathered headdresses contrast with ceramic vessels shaped like sting rays or parrots.

Since the Spanish melted down much of the gold they found in the Americas, the surviving Quimbayas treasure is particularly important. Dating from 600 BC-AD 600, the 130 gold objects were discovered in two tombs in Colombia. Finely-crafted, they range from statuettes and bowls to necklaces and helmets. There is even a whistle and a trumpet.

Equally important are the codices, or manuscripts, which are keys to understanding pre-Colombian culture. One of only three surviving Mayan manuscripts is the Tro-Cortesiano Codex, with symbols depicting the religious rituals of the Mayan calendar. Although the Tudela Codex also records religious ceremonies this time of the late Aztec culture it is post-conquest and dates from 1553. Written on paper and bound like a book, it is annotated in Spanish.

Paintings from the Spanish colonial period also serve as historical records, ranging from a large work showing the Archbishop and Viceroy Morcillo entering the city of Potosi to a series of portraits of the multi-racial society of Mexico.