USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Of the thousands of books produced throughout the Mayas’ long history, however, only three Maya codices were known to have survived, all written in the “postclassic” period after AD 900 and brought to Europe sometime after the conquest.

Detailed explanation-2: -The four Mayan Codices, including the Codex on display at the Getty, are the only known remaining books that survived Spanish Franciscan Bishop Diego De Landa’s order to burn and destroy all Maya manuscripts and cult images during the Spanish Inquisition of Yucatán in July of 1562.

Detailed explanation-3: -Today, only three or four Maya codices remain. Three of them are named for the European cities where they are kept-Dresden, Paris, and Madrid. The authenticity of a fourth book called the Grolier Codex, now in Mexico City, is still disputed.

Detailed explanation-4: -A Maya book is referred to as a codex (plural: codices). The codices were painted onto a paper made of bark from the fig tree and folded out like an accordion. Unfortunately, zealous Spanish priests destroyed most of these codices during the conquest and colonial era and today only four examples survive.