Cartas de Colón. América en la Casa de Alba is the official catalog of the 2024–2025 exhibition Cartas de Colón: Columbus’s Letters and the Americas at the Casa de Alba at the Palacio de Liria in Madrid, where the Fundación Casa de Alba presents one of the most exceptional documentary collections related to the early history of the Americas. Centered around the twenty-four autograph documents of Christopher Columbus, the largest and most varied surviving group anywhere, the exhibition and its catalog offer an unprecedented view of the explorer’s life, voyages, and legacy.
The catalog brings together more than 150 items of extraordinary historical and artistic value, including manuscripts, vellum documents, pre-Columbian objects, viceregal decorative arts, rare portraits, and archival materials preserved in the Casa de Alba. Many pieces, including newly surfaced portraits of Columbus, are published and displayed for the first time.
Structured around five thematic sections, the exhibition’s highlights include the crew roster from Columbus’s first voyage in 1492, personal letters to Fray Gaspar de Gorricio, a Carthusian monk and trusted correspondent of the Admiral, the last surviving letter to his son Diego, notarial documents and memorials written or signed by Columbus, and early cartographic and heraldic materials that illuminate the formation of New World identities.
The book offers a rich, multidisciplinary view of the Atlantic world, its cultural exchanges, and the enduring ties between the Casa de Alba and the Americas.
Deeply researched and beautifully illustrated, this catalog is essential for anyone interested in Columbus studies, early American history, Spanish noble archives, and the artistic heritage of the New World.
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