Maya Dresden Codex

Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection

Pre-Contact America | Explorations and Encounters | Aftermath of the Encounter

Urban Landscapes | Ritual, Ceremonies, and Celebrations | Language and Context | Recording History | The Heavens and Time

Codex Dresdensis: Sächsische Landesbibliothek Dresden (Mscr. Dresd. R 310)/Kommentar, Helmut Deckert, zur Geschichte der Dresdner Maya-Handschrift; Ferdinand Anders, die Dresdner Maya-Handschrift kodikologische Beschreibung.
Graz, Austria: Akadem. Druck-u Verlagsanstalt, 1975.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (43)

Displayed is a facsimile edition of the Dresden Codex, the most comprehensive source of Maya astronomy and calendar systems. It includes tables for predicting events and scheduling religious ceremonies that are based on the solar cycle and the cycles of the Moon and Venus. The codex was probably sent by Hernán Cortés to Emperor Charles V in 1519 and was acquired by the Royal Library in Saxony in Dresden in 1744.