The painted books of Mesoamerica

Pre-Hispanic codices

Pre-Hispanic codices are books painted by the peoples of Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish. They were made on long strips of amate paper or deerskin, coated with a white layer of stucco and folded like a screen.

Their images, glyphs and colors recorded ritual calendars, prophecies, ceremonies, genealogies and the history of peoples. Very few survived the Conquest: among them are the Codex Borgia, of the Mixteca-Puebla group, and the Maya codices of Dresden and Madrid, the latter also known as Troano-Cortesianus.

The originals are in libraries and museums in Europe and Mexico. The MUNAG holds handmade copies and facsimile editions of several of them, some made by hand by Julieta Latremouille.

You can see these codex copies below and in the Pre-Hispanic room.