Friar Diego de Landa, OFM, was the author of Relación de cosas del Yucatan (1566), a basic document for Mayan studies. He is also known by the Auto de fé at Maní (1562); this act has been strongly criticized by scholars, although the most of them recognized that until nowadays the knowledge about Mayan Culture is based on his text. In my opinion, the criticism, in general, has not taken into account the historical, political and religious context. In this paper the author will try to claim the figure of Landa focusing attention on the value of the text as a documentary source –considering both chapters as a result of a direct and personal observation and experience as those based on the translation of an original not textualized– and on the context in what Landa’s text was written, as well as at the reception and translation of his text under scholars.