The codices--like most of the ΓÇ£artΓÇ¥ objects created by New World peoples--were subjected to both destruction and collection. Many were destroyed in the fires of Christian missionaries, certain that these were works of the Devil. At the same time, however, some of these books were taken by the Spaniards and sent to Europe as curious trophies of conquest. Most of the pre-Columbian codices that still exist owe their survival to centuries of storage in European libraries.
