In 1787 the architect Antonio Bernasconi, accompanied by Spanish forces led by Antonio del Río undertook excavations at the site of the Maya city of Palenque. Though not as large as other cities such as Chichen Itza or Tikal, Palenque was an important city in central America between c. 430 and 800 ce and the ruins are among the best preserved in the region, serving to assist archaeologists in understanding Maya history and culture.

The city was first described by a Spanish missionary, Pedro de la Nada, in 1567 but was seemingly forgotten by Europeans until 1773, when Ramón de Ordóñez y Aguillar, a canon and antiquary residing in Chiapas, sent a report of the site to the colonial government in Guatemala.

The excavations by Bernasconi and del Río lasted for five weeks during which drawings were made of Maya glyphs and bas-reliefs by Bernasconi and Ricardo Almendáriz, a Guatemalan draughtsman. Del Rio’s account was published in 1822 with Almendáriz’s drawings as well as others made by Luciano Castañeda during a visit to the site in 1807. The illustrations were remarkably detailed and remain useful to archaeologists to this day.