Hungary's oldest library saves 100,000 books from beetle infestation

Hungary's oldest library saves 100,000 books from beetle infestation

thousands of centuries of books are removed from the shelves of a medieval abbey in Hungary to save them from a beetle attack that could erase centuries.

The Pannonhalma Archabbey: A historical treasure

The 1000 year old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a extensive Benedictine monastery and is one of the oldest education centers in Hungary. It is also a unesco-world culture .

The beetle infestation and its consequences

Restoration workers remove around 100,000 hand -bound books from the shelves and carefully place them in boxes. This is the beginning of a disinfectant process that aims to kill the tiny beetles who have sized in the books.

The pharmacy beetle, also known as bread beetles, often occurs in dried foods such as grain, flour and spices, but is also attracted to the gelatin and starchy adhesives used in books.

insight into the treasures of the abbey

The beetle infestation was discovered during a routine cleaning of the library. The employees noticed unusual layers of dust on the shelves and discovered holes in some bookpings. When opening the volumes, feed holes could be recognized in the paper where the beetles had gnawed.

The abbey in Pannonhalma was founded in 996, four years before the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary. The abbey is enthroned on a high hill in the northwest of Hungary and houses the oldest book collection in the country as well as many of its earliest and most important written records.

over 1000 years the abbey was one of the most outstanding religious and cultural centers in Hungary and all over Central Europe and has survived for many centuries of war and foreign attacks, such as the Ottoman invasion in the 16th century.

rescue of valuable cultural assets

ilona Ásványi, the director of the library of the Pannonhalma Archabbey, feels gratitude for the historical and cultural treasures that the collection harbors. "It is overwhelming to know that a library existed here a thousand years ago and that we are the keepers of the first book catalog in Hungary," she said.

The most outstanding works of the library are 19 codes, including a complete Bible from the 13th century. The library also kept several hundred manuscripts that were created before the printer press was invented in the 15th century, as well as tens of thousands of books from the 16th century.

Although the oldest and rarest prints and books are kept separately and are not infected, Ásványi found that everyone in the collection is a loss for the cultural, historical and religious heritage. "When I see a book that was eaten up by a beetle, I feel that no matter how many copies are published and how easy to replace the book is, a piece of culture has been lost," she said.

The fight against beetles

To combat the beetles, the boxes with the books are packed in large, hermetically sealed plastic bags from which the entire oxygen is removed. After six weeks in a pure nitrogen environment, the abbey hopes that all beetles will be killed.

Before the books are put back on the shelf, each book is inspected and sucked individually. Every book that was damaged by the pests is set aside for later restoration work.

climate change as a factor

The abbey that hopes to reopen the library at the beginning of next year is convinced that the effects of climate change have contributed to the development of beetle infestation, since the temperatures in Hungary quickly increase.

Hajdu, the main trial, explained that higher temperatures enable the beetles to go through several development cycles every year than in cooler weather. "Higher temperatures are favorable for the life of insects," she said. "So far we have mainly had to do with mold in both depot areas and in open collections. But I think that more and more insect damage will occur due to global warming."

The director of the library emphasized that life in a Benedictine abbey is determined by a rule that has been in use for almost 15 centuries. This rule obliges you to do everything possible to save the extensive collection. "As a rule of St. Benedict, it says that all goods of the monastery should have the same value as the holy container of the altar," emphasized Ásványi. "I feel responsibility that this preservation and preservation really means."