Tetepilco Codices' 9.5-Million-Peso Government Purchase

In 2024, after years of negotiations through Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, the Mexican government paid an anonymous family 9.5 million pesos for three Aztec codices that the family had preserved as traditional stewards. Although all three documents remain incomplete and heavily damaged, they depict the founding of Tetepilco, an inventory of the Church of San Andrés Tetepilco, and the history of Tenochtitlan. The 20-sheet historical codex traces Tenochtitlan from its founding in 1300 through 1611 and portrays Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés as a Roman soldier. The institute added the manuscripts to the National Library of Anthropology and History's collection of more than 200 Mesoamerican codices.

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