Codex Veitia

Codex Veitia

Countless manuscripts attesting to the Pre-Columbian culture of Old Mexico were destroyed in the course of Spanish colonialization, largely at the direction of Catholic clerics seeking to eradicate all vestiges of the indigenous, pagan religion. The Codex Veitia is one of the few to have survived to the present, and is the last and youngest of the Mexican codices collectively known as the Magliabecchiano Group, which also includes the Magliabecchiano, Tudela, and Ixtlilxochitl codices. The paper manuscript was completed in 1755 and is named after its patron, the Spanish nobleman Don Mariano Fernándex de Echevarría y Veytia, who commissioned it as a testament to the disappearing culture of the Aztecs. The Spanish text is adorned by 22 pages of detailed, wonderfully colored illustrations. In it, the Mexican system of counting is explained, as is their calendar, and the manner in which they celebrate their festivals. Similarly, details about the founding and history of Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, as well as its gods and main temple, are also given in the text. As such, this codex is prized for the rarity and informative nature of both its text and its imagery.