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Medieval Hungarian Library Battle Saves the national treasure for beetle infection

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Books from tens of thousands of centuries have been drawn from the shelves of Hungary’s medieval monasteries to save them from rhinoceros beetles, which could wipe out centuries of history.

One thousand years ago, the territorial monastery of Panonharma Alkeby, or St. Martin of Mount Panonharma, is one of the oldest learning centres in Hungary and a vast Benedictine monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Restoration workers have removed about 100,000 handshake books from the shelves and carefully put them in wooden frames.

Drugstore beetles, also known as bread beetles, are often found in dried foods such as grains, flour and spices. But they are also attracted to the gelatin and starch-based adhesives found in the books.

They are found in the library section that lives around a quarter of the 400,000 volumes of the monastery.

“This is an advanced insect invasion detected in several parts of the library, so the entire collection must be classified as infected and at the same time,” says Zsófia, who edits Hajdu, the project’s main restorer. “I’ve never encountered an infection of this level.”

Rhinoceros beetle invasion was first detected during daily library cleaning. Employees noticed an unusual layer of dust on the shelf, and then saw a hole in some of the thorns in the book. When I opened the volume, I saw a burrow hole in the paper the beetle had bitten.

There are many historical treasures

The monastery of Panonharma was founded in 996, four years before the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. Sitting on a tall hill in northwestern Hungary, the monastery features the country’s oldest collection of books, and many of the earliest and most important written records.

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For over a thousand years, the monastery has been the most prominent religious and cultural location in Hungary and all of Central Europe, and has survived centuries, including the Ottoman invasion and Hungarian occupation in the 16th century.

Ilonaásványi, director of the Pannonhalma Archabbey Library, said she was “humble” with the historical and cultural treasures the collection holds with each visit.

“It’s dizzy to think of a library here a thousand years ago and we are the guardians of Hungary’s first book catalogue,” she said.

Among the library’s most outstanding works are 19 codes, including the complete 13th century Bible. It also houses hundreds of manuscripts in front of the invention of printing presses in the mid-15th century and tens of thousands of books from the 16th century.

The oldest and rarest prints and books are stored separately and are not infected, but Asbani said the damage to the collection represents a blow to cultural, historical and religious heritage.

“When you look at books that have been bitten by beetles or otherwise infected, you feel that the culture has been lost, no matter how exchangeable the books are,” she said.

To kill beetles, the book’s wooden boxes are placed in tall, sealed plastic bags where all oxygen is removed. After six weeks in a pure nitrogen environment, the monastery hopes that all beetles will be destroyed.

Each book is individually inspected and vacuumed before receiving a reshell. Books damaged by pests will be reserved for later repair work.

Climate change responsible?

The monastery, which hopes to reopen libraries early next year, believes that the effects of climate change have played a role in spurring beetle invasion as average temperatures rise rapidly in Hungary.

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Chief restoration company Hajdu said that when temperatures get high, beetles can experience several development cycles each year than cool weather.

“Higher temperatures are advantageous for insect life,” she said. “So far, we have dealt with mold damage mainly in both deposits and open collections. But now I think more and more insect invasions will appear due to global warming.”

The library director said life at the Benedictine monastery complies with a set of rules used for nearly 15 centuries.

“In the rule of St. Benedict, it states that all property in the monastery should be considered to be of the same value as the sacred ships on the altar,” Asvany said. “I feel a responsibility for what this conservation and conservation really means.”

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