The Florentine Codex: A Treasure of Indigenous Mexican Culture
Presented in partnership with the American Indian Studies Center at the Fowler Museum Lenart Auditorium
Thursday Nov 16, 5:30 pm
Free
The 12-book Florentine Codex is an encyclopedia of Aztec knowledge written and illustrated by Aztec elders who worked with a Franciscan friar from Spain in the mid-16th century at the first European-style college founded in the Americas, in Mexico City. The twelfth book is an Aztec history of the Spanish-led invasion of Mexico. The 25,00-page codex was written in Nahuatl and translated into Spanish; the two texts appear side by side, along with more than 2,000 illustrations drawn and painted by Indigenous artists.
The public-facing UCLA event will include a demonstration of how to use a new, high-resolution digital version of the codex, made possible by the Getty Research Institute, and examine several fascinating aspects of the codex and its importance for future scholars of Indigenous history.
RSVP link
Image courtesy of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, and by permission of MiBACT
