This article examines how the Papel Periódico Ilustrado (Illustrated Newspaper) was part of the Colombian Nation-State reconfiguration process promoted by the Regeneration. It argues that the History section printed historiographic texts and visual representations which contributed to structuring a new viewpoint of the nation’s present, characterized by three temporal dimensions: of the present as a double allusion to the past and from the present to the future, anchored in tradition. This process highlights elements of continuity with the idea of the Spanish heritage and the foundational myth of the nation related to the Independence.