The Popol Vuh is the Sacred Book of the ancient Mayan-Quiche people. The Quiche nation is a native Amerindian ethnic group of Guatemala. This Mayan people descended from the « master builders » of Tula thought to be at the origin of the great monuments of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Yucatán. Before Christopher Columbus's arrival, the Mayan-Quiche were among the most civilized peoples in the New World.

The Popol Vuh can be considered as the « Bible » of the Mayan-Quiche people. This sacred Maya text narrates the Maya creation myths. It is considered by many researchers as the oldest document of human history. It would be older than the Rig-Veda or the Zend-Avesta. Before Christopher Columbus's arrival, the Mayan-Quiche were among the most civilized peoples in the New World.

The Popol-Vuh is a lifeline thrown into the sea of our history by an unknown scholar, at the time of the Spanish conquest. In the 16th century, the conquistadors, accompanied by intolerant and fanatical monks, systematically eradicated all traditions and destroyed by fire all the documents of the Mayan-Quiche people. Only the Popol-Vuh, three codices and some fragments of manuscripts, evidences of the ancestral knowledge of this people, have come down to us.

The Popol Vuh is known by a 16th century version written between 1550 and 1560 (probably written in 1557) by this unknown scholar concerned about keeping ancient oral traditions. The original, issued from these very ancient oral traditions, would be lost. This manuscript of the 16th century, written in Quiché language and transcribed into Latin characters, was found at the end of the 17th century by brother Francisco Ximénez, a Dominican who was directing the convent of Santo Tomás Chuilá, Chichicastenango, in the Quiché region of present-day Guatemala. Francisco Ximénez knew local languages. He translated this manuscript Quiché into Spanish and presented the two texts, the original and the translation, in two columns, in a book entitled « Empiezan las historias del origen de esta provincia de Guatemala » (Thus begins the story of the origins of this province of the Guatemala). Then, this amazing sacred Book of ancient Mayan-Quiche appeared in the western world, and it was translated into German and into French in the 19th century, and again into Spanish in the 20th century.

The Popol Vuh is considered sacred by modern Maya and is a priceless resource for understanding the religion, culture and history of Mayan-Quiche people. The original manuscript is not divided into parts or chapters; the text runs without interruption from the beginning until the end. In the best known translation, made by the french scholar Brasseur de Bourbourg, the Book is divided into four parts, and each part into chapters, because the arrangement seems logical and conforms to the meaning and subject matter of the work.