The Dresden Maya Codex

  • is the highest quality and the most content-rich codex of the 4 Maya manuscripts preserved worldwide
  • originated in the later post-classical period of Maya culture (ca. 1300-1521) on the Yucatán peninsula
  • consists of 39 sheets of bark bast originally screenfolded, which are exhibited in 2 strips with a total length of 3.56 m between glass panes in the Treasury of the SLUB Corty Gallery 
  • contains ritual and divination calendars, astronomical and meteorological tables, ritual instructions and numerous depictions of gods
  • is a key document for the deciphering of the Mayan hieroglyphs and for the study of astronomy and time calculation of the Maya
  • was acquired in 1739 by the librarian Johann Christian Götze in Vienna and was recognized as a Mayan manuscript in the 19th century
  • has been facsimiled several times and is the subject of countless publications