Why the Mexicans erected a monument to a resident of St. Petersburg
One of the most popular monuments in Mexico is erected to a Russian man. From a pedestal, an angry Russian scientist Yuri Knorozov looks at the Great Mayan Museum in Merida.
The Mexicans decided not by chance. It was Knorozov who in the 1950s managed to solve one of the most complex mysteries of mankind. He deciphered the Mayan letter.
Knorozov’s discovery was, like everything ingenious, difficult. The young Leningrad scientist was the first in the world to understand the syllables with the characters of the Mayan letter of rinsing, which are not familiar to us. Having very fragmentary information about the existence of this civilization, from the books of Spanish missionaries, Knopko rose individual disassembled letters of the Mayan people and even translated their hieroglyphic manuscripts.
In life, Yuri Knorozov was an unusual person. Possessing the unusual appearance of an eternally angry person, he was no stranger to acting and unexpected actions. For example, on the set of one of the documentaries, Knorozov walked in the frame with an eye tied in the manner of Kutuzov.
Yuri Knorozov spent almost his entire life in St. Petersburg. He made his discovery without ever having been to Mexico. With the places discovered with the Mayan culture, Knorozov met already in his old age. Unfortunately, the scientist died practically in poverty.