COLLECTION NAME:
Maya Art and Architecture
Record
Filename:
dresden_codex.jpg
Creator:
Unknown
Style or Period:
Pre-Columbian
City or Region:
Dresden
Site:
Saxon State Library
Country:
Germany
Language:
Mayan
Subject:
codex
Description:
The Dresden Codex, also known as the Codex Dresdensis, is a Pre-Columbian Maya book of the eleventh or twelfth century of the Yucatecan Maya in Chichen Itza. This Maya codex is believed to be a copy of an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier. It is the oldest book written in the Americas known to historians. Of the hundreds of books that were used in Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest, it is one of only 15 that have survived to the present day. The Dresden Codex consists of 39 sheets, inscribed on both sides, with an overall length of 3.56 metres (11.7 feet). Originally, the manuscript had been folded in accordion folds. Today, it is exhibited in two parts, each of them approximately 1.8 metres (5.9 feet) long, at the museum of the Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany. The document has played a key role in the decipherment of Mayan hieroglyphs.
