Of Codices and Codacs

When I studied in Dresden, my “second home” became the newly built library, where apart from the buildings great architecture I could enjoy a tidy desk to work on, free wifi for distraction reseach , a nice cafeteria and countless hours in the sun on the roof of that building, chatting with friends.

But hardly known even to some of the library’s most regular visitors is what lies one storie above the cafeteria, in a special room belonging to the otherwise moderately interesting museum: In the so-called “treasure room” one can find a lot of interesting stuff, among it a 4100 year old stone with writings of the sumerians, handwritten notes by Bach, Schumann or Mahler, a book with sketches on human proportions by Albrecht Dürer or the biggest Manuscript by Martin Luther except for his translation of the Bible. There are some ancient globes and maps, too. But the most interesting and most valuable exposit is an ancient “Book” by the Maya.

This book, known as the Dresden Codex is the best preserved mayan handwriting of only three written documents known today, that still exist of this former cultural empire. It is full of strange symbols, heads and pictures, of which many parts have not yet been decrypted. The Dresden Codex is the only one that is publicly shown, and if you happen to be at the university’s campus you should pay a visit. Normally the treasure room is locked, but if you ask the people at the counter on the entrance two stories down, they open it for you. (there are Cameras, though.)

The funny thing ist, that this is almost unknown in Dresden, and is just a footnote in the extremely big list of cultural sights this city has to offer. Outside of Dresden, and – not surprisingly – in South America, there seems to be a much higher awareness of the treasure that this room holds.

Which brings me to the second thing I wanted to write about, which I discovered today, and which I have yet to fully read: It is a web-comic called Dresden Codak. It is no coincidence that the Comic is named that way, since its name directly derives from the mayan paper in my university’s library.

The comic belongs to the better ones of its kind, and while the storyline did not yet get me, it is in an artistic and stylistic sense very well done. The author, Aaron Diaz, obviously knows his medium very well and plays with the panels and their layout in a very experimental and yet very convincing way. And its style of drawing also looks a lot like it’s been inspired by its 700 year old predecessor…