The year 2006 marked the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Patronato de las Misiones Pedagógicas, a key institution in the process of modernization of education and culture during the second Spanish Republic. Coinciding with this date, the Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales (SECC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, has organized this exhibition, an initial project of the Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos [Institución Libre de Enseñanza], with the Residencia de Estudiantes as executive producer and with the collaboration of Madrid City Council.
 
The exhibition aimed to provide an overview of one of the most innovative and original cultural initiatives take by a European government in the twentieth century. It is divided into 12 sections: from its origins in the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, with Francisco Giner de los Ríos's proposals for the reform of public education in 1881, which included the creation of «misiones ambulantes», to the services offered by the Misiones Pedagógicas: the Servicio de Bibliotecas, with over 5,000 libraries and half a million books distributed, the Museo del Pueblo, the Servicio de Cine y Proyecciones Fijas, the Coro y Teatro del Pueblo, the Servicio de Música, and the Retablo de Fantoches (puppet show). The design of the exhibition had a modular structure, thus allowing one to wander around from one section to another independently.