This exhibition stands out in Liljevalch's history both in terms of scope and number of visitors. It was shown only in two European countries, first at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris and then at Liljevalchs in Stockholm. There were reportedly 23 other countries that had their applications rejected. The choice of Sweden motivated the Mexican Minister of Education Gual Vidal, who along with the Swedish king serves as the exhibition's high patron, with the Swedes' own efforts in Mexico and so the fact that Paris and Stockholm must probably be considered the most important centres, when it comes to reaching the largest possible European audience. It took 12 train carriages to transport all the more than 2,000 items that stretched from precolumbian times to the present with an insurance value of over SEK 600 million (then). During the transport, the cargo was guarded by eight well-armed state police officers. The exhibition is the most visited in Liljevalch's history with 212,431 visitors. Group trips by bus and boat were arranged and people came travelling from all over Sweden and also from our neighbouring countries to visit the tour. On some busy days, there were over 7,000 visitors. Curiosity: There was unusual rainfall during the exhibition period, perhaps because visitors sacrificed to the rain god Chac Mool. This was heard by a farmer in Barcelona on the radio. He then sent a pesetas note to Radiotjänst in Stockholm and asked them to help him sacrifice this banknote to the rain god so that it would rain on his dry almond trees instead. Lasse Åberg shares his experience of the exhibition at Liljevalchs in 1952: "It is a mystery why my father, who was not particularly interested in art, took me to Liljevalchs one September day in 1952 to see the exhibition Mexican Art from antiquity to the present. It was an overwhelming experience for little Lars with skulls, dramatic paintings by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, ancient sculptures and suggestive graphics. The exhibition was one of the most visited that Liljevalchs had /... / and I found out that one of my favorite artists, Öyvind Fahlström, moonlighted as a guard during the exhibition period. Maybe he told me I couldn't touch the canded skull."
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