new normal school to train teachers was inaugurated with Diaz and foreign delegates attending. Also occurring during the festivities was the Nation Congress of Pedagogy. The Spanish monarchy sent a special ambassador to the festivities, who was enthusiastically received. Diaz gave an enormous reception in his honor. On 9 September Díaz laid the first stone on a monument to Isabel the Catholic and Díaz also opened an exhibition of colonial-era Spanish art. The Spanish ambassador, the Marquis of Polavieja returned items of historical importance to Mexico, including the uniform of Father Morelos, a portrait, and other relics of independence in a ceremony at the National Palace, with the diplomatic corps in attendance, as well as Mexican army officers. The king of Spain conveyed through his special ambassador the honor of the Order of Charles III on Diaz, the highest distinction for sovereigns and heads of state. Others holding the honor were the Russian czar, and the monarchs of Germany and Austria. A portrait of Spanish monarch Charles III was unveiled in the Salon of Ambassadors in the National Palace. The International Congress of Americanists met in Mexico City, with Porfirio Díaz elected its honorary president. Prominent Americanists from many countries attended, including Eduard Seler from Germany and Franz Boaz from the U.S. Mexican Secretary of Education, Justo Sierra attended. Diaz and Justo Sierra went with Congress attendees went to the archeological site of San Juan Teotihuacan. As part of the historical commemorations of the centennial, on September 8 there was homage paid to the Niños Héroes, the cadets who died defending Chapultepec Castle from the invading U.S. forces during the Mexican–American War. But Diaz also laid the first stone to a monument to George Washington in the American Colony in Mexico City. The U.S. delegation hosted a sumptuous banquet for fellow delegates. There was a large number of journalists from the U.S. attending the celebrations, such as The New York Times, the New York Evening Post, Harper's Weekly, The Washington Post, as well as some from Toronto and Montreal in Canada, with the U.S. ambassador hosting a reception for these North American newspapermen. Other statues that were inaugurated were one honoring France's Louis Pasteur and Germany's Alexander von Humboldt. The German government had an honor guard for the monument of German naval officers. Coup d'état and end of Porfiriato, 1910–11 The centenary celebrations were the swansong of Díaz’s regime. Presidential-challenger